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A long, lean, lanky figure on the practice courts at the Mubadala Citi DC Open a few weeks ago caught our attention – as if we’d gone back in time a few years and no time had passed.
She looked just like Galina Voskoboeva, a Russian player who reached a career high in singles of No. 42, and No. 26 in doubles. But who had been off the grid for a number of years.
Now 40, Voskoboeva’s last singles match goes back to the (now-defunct) Bronx Open, just before the 2019 US Open.
And her last doubles match was at the 2021 US Open.
But it was indeed her. And she’s back!
Giving it a try, with a protected ranking
We caught up with her on the grounds in D.C., and also after a practice in Montreal a week or so later, to get some intel as to why she’s back (It’s such a pleasure to just be able to … go up to a player and talk to them, without having to make an appointment for a two-minute conversation with a minder a week in advance, or get declined altogether. But we digress …)
Voskoboeva, who has always been very active on Instagram and has pics of herself with just about … everyone … wanted to give it a try to not only challenge herself as she hit her 40th birthday, but also so that her kids might have an opportunity to see her play. She has a protected ranking of No. 37 in doubles.
Voskoboeva has two young ones: Leonid, almost 3 1/2 and Maria, who’s a year and a half old.
Her first match back in D.C., with 23-year-old partner Kamilla Rakhimova, was a tough ask against the solid team of Caroline Dolehide and Sofia Kenin. The acquitted themselves well, going down 7-5, 6-3.
She had a nanny with the kids in D.C., and was pleased that young Leonid “made it almost through the whole match”. (It was … hot).
On to Montreal, without the entourage.
Here she is practicing before the start of the doubles event.
A first win
Again teamed with Rakhimova, Voskoboeva posted the first victory of her comeback in the first round, as they defeated Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi 6-2, 6-4. They came back from being down a break in the second set to do it.
Here’s what that looked like.
Then, they ran into Kenin and Dolehide again, going out 6-3, 6-4.
And now – a competitive return at home
It’s fairly random, but Voskoboeva actually LIVES in Cincinnati, the site of this week’s WTA 1000.
She’s playing with Japanese player Miyu Kato, against Guo Hanyu and Alexandra Panova on the new Champions’ Court late today.
Although it’s not like she’s been a stranger the last few years. Clearly, even after all these years, she still lives and breathes tennis. And she knows … everybody.
A long tennis history
Voskoboeva was a top-five player in the juniors. And she turned pro all the way back in 2002.
It was a good career, but it was punctured by a number of long injury absences.
In 2010. she had a long absence after shoulder surgery. She missed nearly two years – from Indian Wells in 2014 through early 2016, after multiple stress fractures in her foot, and surgery.
She was out again from the 2019 US Open until Wimbledon in 2021 – there was a finger injury, a hamstring injury and a sports hernia. She had another surgery that November.
But she only played until the US Open; newly married, she was already pregnant with Leon.
An early adopter
Long before players like Elena Rybakina, Yulia Putintseva and Alexander Bublik took the route to Kazakhstan for better opportunities, Voskoboeva did the same. But that was all the way back in 2008.
She’s still very much Russian, though – going home on a regular basis, and feeling the slings and arrows on her social media since her country invaded Ukraine.
Voskoboeva also was among the few players on the WTA Tour, years ago, to have a female coach. As we wrote back in 2012, it was far from the first time she’d had a woman coaching her and she was very comfortable with it.
(Looking back at this story, there are quotes from Victoria Mboko coach Nathalie Tauziat, who was guiding young Genie Bouchard to the junior Wimbledon title).
Chance meeting on a flight
How did a Russian turned Kazakh end up in Cincinnati? Well, that’s a story.
As she tells it, she was on a small jet from Cincinnati to New York, headed to the US Open in 2019 after losing in the first round.
Sometimes, fate deals a hand. Even through the pandemic, they found a way.
Her husband, Jonathan Gully, is a family medicine physician in Cincinnati. He’s very tall, too. We expect those kids to shoot up.
They married in April 2021 and a year later, welcomed Leonid. And then a couple of years after that, little Maria.
The future is a little complicated, said Voskoboeva. The biggest thing is that there isn’t a high-enough level of practice partners in Cincinnati for her to train seriously. And relocating for periods of time to a place like Florida is made all the more complex a decision when you’re bringing along two small children. It’s not like you want to hang in Miami.
So she’s working on solutions.
In the meantime, she’ll enjoy this Cincinnati experience, where the new community of friends she’s made the last few years can watch her do her thing.
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