What’s next for
Wozniacki
Ranked No. 1 as recently as 10 months ago, Caroline Wozniacki now finds herself languishing outside the world’s top 10. But if there are challenges in her professional life, her personal one has never been better. MATT TROLLOPE considers whether the Dane has the drive to return to the top.
W
hen Caroline Wozniacki limped to a 6-2, 6-2 first round defeat at the US Open to little-known Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, she maintained a positive outlook despite her worst ever showing in New York. “The year’s not done yet. Definitely the Grand Slams this year haven’t been great. After the year’s finished you can evaluate, you can see what was good and wasn’t so good, work from there. I still have plenty of years in me. Hopefully I can just turn it around and play even better,” she said. Granted, Wozniacki was hampered by a knee injury she sustained in New Haven the week prior, and required heavy strapping during the loss. With her signature court movement limited, it was always going to be a tough assignment. But that only masks the alarming slide in both Wozniacki’s results and her position in the game during 2012. The Dane entered the Australian Open in January as the world No. 1, yet a straightsets quarter-final defeat to Kim Clijsters saw her surrender the top ranking – following 11 straight months at the