2011 Davis Cup – Team Kazakhstan: Andrey Golubev, a boost for the team
Andrey “Andrea” Golubev, a former Russian tennis player, is currently the world No.45 in ATP world tennis ranking. Standing at 6’1”, current Kazakhstani tennis player started his professional career in 2005. The right handed, world
No.45 is considered to be a master of one handed backhand. At the age of 23, Andrey has faced major losses in his career, failing to improve his ranking. The Kazakhstani has many tours to his records but has not won any major titles.
Up to the 2008 Wimbledon, Golubev competed as an athlete from Russia. However, he changed his affiliation from Russia to Kazakhstan before the 2008 Canada Masters.
Andrey started his 2011 season at the Hopman Cup. The Kazakhstani lost all of his first three matches, resulting in tournament knockout. The world No.45 then entered four other tournaments i.e. the Australian Open, Heilbronn, ABN
AMRO Championship and the Open 13 and lost in the first fixtures of all of the tournaments.
Following that, the right handed Kazakhstani failed to make it to the second rounds in most of the tournaments he played. He has had his best results in 2009 and 2010, managing qualify till the second rounds of the US Open in 2008,
French Open in 2009 and Australian Open in 2010. Andrey has also competed in Wimbledon in 2009, 2010 and 2011. However, he has always failed to clear the first round.
Up till now Andrey has played 106 matches during his 7 year career, winning 42 and losing 64. Looking at the stats in Grand Slams, the Kazakhstani has won only 3 matches and lost 12. Winning only 1 title, the Hamburg Open in 2010,
Golubev has managed to finish as a runner up in St. Petersburg Open in 2008 and in the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur in 2010.
However, he has done competitively better in his Davis Cup career. Andrea has played 16 matches and won 14 out of them mostly on hard courts. His records on clay in Davis Cup are also very satisfying as he has lost no match and
won all 5 of his matches that he has played on clay. Surprisingly, most of his matches won were on indoor courts. Evaluating the stats, he is proving to be a tough opponent in the Davis Cup.
Currently, Andrey is at the lowest ranking in the 2011 season. However, he was ranked world No. 36 till January 2011. The former Russian athlete has his highest career ranking at world No.33.
Andrea is yet to improve his game in many aspects; however, looking at his playing tactics, he does not mess around with his serve which makes it hard to play for the opponent. Most of the points he loses is from double faults.
Making his opponents play and extra shot makes it easier for Golubev to gain points. He is strong with his forehands down the line.
Although he struggles in winning sets, he makes hectic serve breaks and goes after the ball. He is aggressive in playing and strong in volleying the ball near the net. What he needs is consistency in the game. He has problems in
keeping his discipline and is a bit fragile mentally. However, when he is playing well he has little weaknesses.
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