It isn’t that long ago that David Goffin faced one of the scariest moments of his career.
An innocuous-looking slide in his third-round match on the terre battue at Roland Garros turned into a disaster. The Belgian got his right foot stuck under the tarp at the back of the court, injuring his ankle. Goffin immediately retired from the match and would miss Wimbledon. There was no way he would recover to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.
But then he did. And then the 26-year-old beat Rafael Nadal in round-robin play. And then Goffin defeated Roger Federer for the first time in seven tries in the semi-finals, becoming just the sixth player to take down both Nadal and Federer in the same event. Nikolay Davydenko was the last player to defeat the Top 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the season finale, doing so in 2009.
“I have no words,” Goffin said. “I cannot describe how I am feeling for the moment, But so much joy, so much happiness. I’m so happy to play the match I played in front of you against Roger. It was such a special moment. It’s unbelievable. I cannot describe.”
All of a sudden, that tarp at Roland Garros seems like a distant memory.
After the US Open, where the right-hander reached the Round of 16 for the first time, Goffin sat in 13th in the Emirates ATP Race To London, behind the likes of Pablo Carreno Busta, Sam Querrey and Kevin Anderson. But after pushing through the grind of seven tournaments, including back-to-back titles in Shenzhen and Tokyo, the Belgian secured his place in London for the first time after appearing as an alternate last season.
That already was impressive enough, and without a doubt the greatest achievement in Goffin’s career. But since, he has gone on one of the most unlikely journeys to the championship match of the Nitto ATP Finals in recent memory.
The Belgian entered the week 0-8 combined against Nadal and Federer, losing all four career sets against the top seed and his past eight against the six-time season finale champion. Yet days after saying he earned the best win of his career against Nadal in his first round-robin match, he came from a set down to oust Federer.
“Both are really special. It was the first time against Rafa. Then the semi-final for the first time for me here, and to beat Roger for the first time here in such a big event, big tournament, it was the perfect moment,” Goffin said. “It is the best win of my career, for sure.”
Now, depending on who wins Saturday’s second semi-final between Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Sock, Goffin can soar to a career-high of No. 4 or No. 5 in the rankings on Monday if he captures his biggest title yet. He then will lead Belgium in the Davis Cup Final next weekend in attempt to earn his country’s first trophy.
But for now, all of Goffin’s focus is on the task at hand — doing everything he can to win the Nitto ATP Finals.
“I have the chance to play another match. If it's Grigor, against him, I hope to play the tennis I played today. I'll try to be more aggressive, also go for shots, go for the trophy,” said Goffin, who won just two games against the Bulgarian in group play. “We will see. I will try something different than in the group [play]. But it won't be difficult to do better than on Wednesday.”
On the other hand, Goffin has won all three matches in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Sock, dropping just one set four years ago in Winston-Salem. The Belgian ousted the American in Basel, on an indoor hard court like at The O2, just weeks ago.
“I'm sure I have the game to beat him because I did it in Basel,” Goffin said. “I can take the ball early. I can make him run a lot. He likes to have time to play some heavy forehand. I play faster. I take the ball early. He has a lot of backhand to hit. I'm sure he doesn't like to play against me. We will see. It's a final. So against both players, it will be tough.”
Whatever happens, one thing is for sure. After Goffin slid into one of his lowest lows earlier this season, the seventh seed has risen to by far his greatest peak.
