It’s a dream come true. Caroline Wozniacki finished her drought of Grand Slam titles in Melbourne:”I was even almost ready to stop playing tennis,”says the Danish after her fabulous comeback.
Actually, it had to be okay this time. Anyway, and somehow after this small, not insignificant prehistory to the big victory. It was in the second round of the Australian Open, the tournament just picked up a little momentum as Caroline Wozniacki looked down into the abyss.
In the third set of her match against Jana Fett (Croatia) she was far behind, hopelessly, almost an understatement for her perspective at the 1:5,15:40 deficit, at two match balls of her opponent. But Wozniacki struggled point-by-point, match-by-game back in this duel, fighting her way back into Grand Slam life in Melbourne. She won a game she couldn’t win anymore.
And ten days after this remarkable and miraculous comeback, ten days later, she had suddenly solved the biggest of all puzzles, mastered the biggest challenge in professional tennis – she had become the Grand Slam queen, in the 43rd year of her life. Try one of the four outstanding competitions. The 7:6,3:6,6:4 victory over Romanian Simona Halep, but the whole performance Down Under was an expression and reflection of Wozniacki’s career – a document of her untiringness, passion and willpower.
The attitude never to give up, never to give up, even if many things, sometimes even everything conspired against you “I have marched through many ups and downs. I was almost ready to stop playing tennis,”Wozniacki said on the evening of her triumph, which was also and above all a triumph over the doubters and self-doubt.
In the most beautiful hour of her career, Wozniacki climbed to the top of the world rankings again at the end of the title dryness, fitting into the picture of a Grand Slam night that closed the past and opened up new possibilities. The past? One of its most notable features was the eternal blame for being at the top of the world rankings and never having won a Grand Slam tournament.
The very young Wozniacki had been celebrated for her cheerful light-heartedness, also as an “attractive showgirl” (New York News) with a contagious good-mood mentality, but when the big successes on big stages failed, she was quickly dropped again – “like a hot potato” after Wozniackis own impression.
The murmur, moaning and nagging did not leave the Danish woman cold. When she heard at the Australian Open 2011 that her press conferences seemed to be too boring, she simply invented the story of how she wanted to help an injured kangaroo baby in a wildlife park – and got a “nasty scratch”. The cheating didn’t have too long legs, the blonde who was trying to be entertaining had to admit that everything was “just a joke”.
Soon enough it was no longer funny anyway. For far worse reasons. Wozniacki not only lost the important games, she also suffered bitter injuries and went through a severe private crisis after the canceled wedding with star golfer Rory McIlroy. In the world ranking list she was only in the middle division, she continued to slip away. She made headlines almost more than she did when she ran through New York’s urban canyons for charity purposes at the marathon.
It was not until 2016 that she came to the fore again as a dangerous tennis competitor, which was when she entered the semi-finals of the US Open against her girlfriend Angelique Kerber, the eventual champion. Wozniacki was number 74 at the time – and Kerber was number 1.
Now Wozniacki is the best, black on white. After an impressive comeback fairy tale, after this long and complicated march through the tennis institutions,”It’s a dream come true. I’ve waited a little while for this moment,”said the 27-year-old after the Melbourne coup.
Wozniackis victory comes at a moment when women’s tennis is dominated by women players who are mostly masterfully defending themselves and are betting on gruelling tactics in ever-longer, exhausting matches. Wozniacki is, so to speak, the most effective of all those who take a defensive approach to needle-stitch attacks and thus score points. She has perfected her counterattacks, but of course she has also stayed the dead breaker, the miracle of stamina. The woman, who continues to travel undauntedly on nimble legs, even if every bone, every muscle should be felt after almost three hours.
“I’m just proud of you, my girl,”wired friend Serena Williams from her homeland and her tennis break. Incidentally, this was also an ideal scenario for Wozniacki – the absence of the dominator, her last refusal to return from her pregnancy. Williams will be back in action at the Fed Cup in February, but Grand Slam winner Wozniacki won’t mind.