Caroline Wozniacki wins her first Grand Slam title. The Danish rider wins the thrilling Australian Open finale against Simona Halep in three sets, taking the lead in the world rankings.
At the moment of the Australian Open triumph, the eternal question had naturally disappeared. The question that had arisen around the career of Caroline Wozniacki. The question that the 27-year-old Grand Slam Queen of Melbourne once again raised in the Victory Night herself, but now in a state of extreme serenity and calmness:
“Now no one can ask me why you can be number 1 in tennis without winning a Grand Slam,” he said. Not after the nerve-racking battle won at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, not after the hard-won 7-6 (7-2), 3-6,6-4 victory over Wozniackis against Romanian Simona Halep, who also enabled her to climb the tennis summit – six years after she was named the last time as the industry leader.
It was clear that the emotional contrasts would be starkly contrasted after this heavily charged night vision – with two players who wanted to end their long, sometimes agonizing waiting time for the first big tennis thing, which could leave many past disappointments and frustrations behind.
Finally, Wozniacki was the more stable, physically more robust and also more nervous in the Cup match of these 2018 Australian Open Championships, she had the last, decisive punch to offer in a thrilling roller coaster ride on the Centre Court,”It’s a dream come true. I dreamt of this success for a really long time,”said the first Danish to win one of the four majors,”I never gave up on my career, even though I had to go through some difficult phases”.
These included the two lost U. S. Open finals in 2009 and 2014, including the constant doubts about its legitimacy, as it had previously occupied first place in the pecking order. This also included the public relationship story with golfer Rory McIlroy, which ended with a broken marriage shortly before the wedding date. Wozniacki, a fierce fighter on the Centre Court, could not be defeated by all sporting failures as well as by other blows of fate – and after an interim crash in the rankings, she worked very energetically and courageously on her comeback up to rank 70.
In the beginning this return mission was unspectacular, the Danish woman worked her way forward tenaciously and persistently rather than with giant strides. But already in October 2017 she set a big exclamation mark, was the last big winner of the tennis year at the World Championships in Singapore. Now, at the first title award ceremony in the new season, she once again had the last word – especially in a high-class women’s competition, which usually clearly outshone the men’s qualifying matches.
Remarkable enough: Both finalists, Wozniacki and Halep, had to fight off match points by the end of the match, Halep even in two different games. For Halep, Melbourne was now the third unsuccessful final run to fame and fortune at the Grand Slams, having already lost the 2014 and 2017 finals at the French Open,”There will be a day when I too can win the trophy,”said the 26-year-old,”maybe it’ll work out in the fourth attempt”.
Halep had used up more energy and substance on the long, long march into the final, but it was not until the very last meters of the final duel against Wozniacki – at the moment of the ultimate test. In the third set, the Romanian had fought her way to a 4:3 lead with the very last of her strength, she had beaten herself and could have won the Australian Open title with two service games.
But Wozniacki, the indefatigable Wozniacki, countered once again, the last three games of the match went to her without exception. And then, when the game and the seemingly endless waiting for a Grand Slam title were over, there was literally no stopping: captured, overwhelmed by happiness, the Dane sank to the ground. But it was on top like never before.