Caroline Wozniacki – world number one and still missing a Grand Slam
Born on 11 July 1990, Caroline Wozniacki is the first Danish player to reach the number one place in the WTA (Women's Tennis Associatoin) ranking. Her five year professional tennis career is a story of continuous improvement and hard work. She is currently top seed women tennis player and is among the youngest players to have gained such big name in a small age.
Wozniacki has won twelve WTA titles throughout her career but is yet to register a Grand Slam tournament to her name. Her success in the doubles category is not as remarkable as her achievements in singles class.
Stepping into the world of junior tennis, Wozniacki won many of the junior titles, including Orange Bowl tennis championship in 2005. By the start of 2006, Caroline was already a junior tennis star, rated as number one in junior category at the Australian Open, where she fell in the final of the tournament.
Later that year, she won Liverpool International Tennis Tournament and immediately afterwards, took on the Wimbledon Girls’ Singles. She was disqualified from the third round of the US Open when she verbally abused the umpire.
Her preceding year was dried out from major wins, except a singles title in Ortisei and a victory at ITF tournament in Las Vegas.
Wozniacki carried on her hard working strategy but she was fruitless again in the Grand Slam events in 2008. She went up till the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and was defeated by Alyona Bondarenko. The French Open and Wimbledon were no different experiences as she was ejected in the third round in both of the Grand Slams.
Caroline got her hands upon her first WTA title at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm, where she did not lose even a single set. She further captured another championship title at the Pilot Pen Tennis but was still not good enough to achieve greatness in the US Open, where she was wiped out in the fourth round. Caroline managed to bag two more WTA singles titles and one doubles title in the year, climbing up to the number 12 position in the rankings.
2009 brought no good to her luck in Grand Slams, as she still couldn’t get past the third round at the Grand Slam Down Under. Wozniacki compensated her losses at Pattaya Women's Open in Thailand and the Cellular South Cup in Memphis by winning three more tournaments at Ponte Vedra Beach, Eastbourne and New Haven.
The Dane got her true first career opportunity of capturing a Grand Slam trophy when she faced Kim Clijsters of Belgium, in the final of the US Open. The unseeded Clijsters had returned from her retirement after two years and had a dream run to reach the final of the grand event. The form which Wozniacki had displayed throughout the tournament was thought to be good enough to outsmart the Belgian. However, young Wozniacki was not able to handle the immense pressure situation in the final and crumbled to Clijsters.
Despite a fourth round defeat at the Australian Open 2010, Caroline Wozniacki pushed her way to the third spot in world rankings. Her loss at the final of Indian Wells improved her standing even more and she got to her career best rating of number 2.
She appeared in many WTA tournaments, mostly reaching the finals but not capitalizing on her momentum and failing to bag title wins. By October 2010, Caroline Wozniacki was pronounced the world number one in women tennis and she is the fifth to have accomplished such feat without a single Grand Slam title won.
Top seeded at the 2011 Australian Open, Caroline Wozniacki was still not able to get a Grand Slam title shot as she lost to Li Na of China in the semi-final.The Dane was demoted to the number two spot by the Australian Open winner, Kim Clijsters, in the mid of February but the determined Wozniacki regained her top spot over a fortnight.
Wozniacki has already won four WTA singles titles this year and has been victorious in 38 of the 45 total matches she played this year. She entered the French Open as the top seed and the hot favourite to win the mega event.
There were huge expectations from the Dane that she might just bag her career’s first Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros this year and in the absence of some big names, including the William Sisters and Justine Henin.
However, as luck would have it, Wozniacki sailed past Mirjana Lucic and Aleksandra Wozniak in the early rounds, only to be ousted in the third by no name Slovak, Daniela Hantuchova. Better luck next time Dane; there is always the Wimbledon Championship in June.
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