By N.D. Prashant
Doha: Like the delicious Danish chocolates, she is the flavour of the hour in women’s tennis. Denmark’s big talent, Caroline Wozniacki has taken giant strides this season and is hungry for more.
“I can’t say how much higher I can go now, but we have to see. I have three more places to go to reach the No 1 spot. But, it’s still needs hard work, a lot of improvement. I’m just taking one step at a time,” says the Danish teenager who set her career high ranking of world No 4 this year.
“I think everyone playing on the Tour, competing on a high level, wants to become No 1 in the world and win Grand Slams. That’s also my goal,” added Wozniacki, the first Dane and youngest player to qualify for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championship.
Wozniacki comes into the tournament with a morale-boosting 65 wins in 87 matches, both season highs among all Tour players and that’s a lot of tennis. However she is not complaining. Instead, she’s attributing her rise to the amount of matches she has played.
“Yeah, I’ve played a lot of matches this year and that also means lots of good results. I’m really pleased about my season so far. I’m glad that I got to play lot of matches this season. If I wouldn’t have played so many matches, my ranking wouldn’t be as high as it is today,” Wozniacki said.
This season also saw her reaching her first Grand Slam final at the US Open and the teenager feels it has done a world of good to her confidence.
“It has definitely helped. A Grand Slam final has always been a dream for me and a goal. Also to win, of course. But I think I had a great run at the US Open. Standing in the first Grand Slam final is always difficult and it’s different. But I think I handled it practically well. Now I know what to expect if I will be in a situation like that again. I’m sure experience will help me again next time.”
Along with all the pluses, the youngster has also had her share of controversies and has come out triumphs in it as well. She was heavily criticised by tennis fans at the Luxembourg Open after she pulled out following ankle sprain. Many felt it was a match-fixing ploy from the Dane and that match is still under the WTA scanner.
“Yeah, it was five-nil and I was serving. When I jumped on my leg after my serve, I felt the pain. I tried to serve two more serves, but the pain just worsened. My dad advised me not to take a chance and told me ‘If you cannot continue, you have to stop because you don’t want to ruin this (Doha) tournament.’ I felt I could not continue the next match anyway. So I retired.”
“It was a genuine incident. It’s just regular procedure what WTA have. They are looking into it and I talked to them. I mean, there’s nothing suspicious about the match that way. So there is no big deal about it.”
Making it to this list of top eight players here in Qatar, is also Wozniacki’s good friend and junior partner, Victoria Azarenka.
“Victoria is a very good friend of mine. So it’s really nice to have her here, in the Championships, as well. We’ve been showing good results, both of us, this year. We’ve been following each other. It’s nice to have her here,” says Wozniacki, who reached eight singles finals, winning titles at Ponte Vedra Beach, Eastbourne and New Haven.
Azarenka had a stunning Tour this season, highlighted by winning her first premiere title in Miami. She started the season by winning 24 of her first 26 matches.
Winning three singles title in Brisbane, Memphis and Miami, after reaching the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, she made her top 10 debut last March 23rd. However, after an impressive start to the season things haven’t gone according to her plans.
“Well, you know, you cannot play the whole year winning tournaments, losing like one or two matches in three months is okay. But I think I still played pretty good.
“I had really tough matches against great players, like Maria (Sharapova) and Kim (Clijsters), in their best form, I think. I’m happy with my results, even though they weren’t that good. I just have to learn from it and try to do better next time.”
The Belarus tennis sensation also reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon as well as the semifinals of Rome. She’s also making her debut at the year-end Championship here.
“Well, this Championship was a goal for me from the beginning of the year. I’m really happy that I achieved. I mean, I didn’t really expect it. I just really wanted to play here. But I’m happy with my results, I got here.” |
