Why Caroline Wozniacki Shouldn’t Try For World Number 1
These days, the Women’s Tennis Assocation rankings run with Serena Williams at the head of the list, followed closely by Caroline Wozniacki, who is behind by a margin of a thousand points, give or take a few. World Number 3 is Venus Williams, twelve hundred
points behind her younger sister.
Serena Williams has been awarded the World Number 1 position five times during the course of her professional career, which began in 1995. The first time she conquered the charts was in 2002, and her most recent recovery to the top was in November 2009.
Williams is number 6 on the all time champions list, with an unrivalled success rate on her singles records: she has 474 victories to 101 losses, giving her a success rate of 82%.
Caroline Wozniacki is tennis’s new girl on the block; 20 years old, pleasant, attractive and above all, talented. In 2008, she was awarded the WTA Tour Most Impressive Newcomer of the Year. Five days ago, she vaulted the rankings to become World Number 2
on the WTA. She is the only female player to have reached at least the fourth round of every Grand Slam tournament she participated in this year.
Now, with Williams dropping out of every tournament after the 2010 Wimbledon Championship due to an alleged foot injury, Wozniacki seems to stand a real chance to overtake the rankings in her absence and become World Number 1. Although at first glance, this
may seem like the best move to make at the moment, it could be the worst thing the young Dane could do to her career.
Tennis fans who are familiar with Dinara Safina’s crash from 2009 to 2010 may be able to spot a pattern here. Safina (who is Marat Safin’s sister) got off to a good start in 2009, competing in her first WTA Tour tournament where she made it to the final
before losing to Vera Zvonareva. Her next big achievement was making it to her second Grand Slam title match at the Australian Open, where she lost to Serena Williams in under an hour. Had she defeated Williams, she would have become World Number 1. After
a number of tournaments, however, she eventually reached the top slot in April 2010, after which she enjoyed a brief run of success. Then, in her semi final against Venus Williams, she lost the match in straight sets: 6-1, 6-0. This defeat marked the fewest
games ever won by a World Number 1, and this dismal result invoked criticism and disdain over her ranking. After this tournament, the tours were a downward spiral for Safina, who is currently ranked at Number 59.
The lesson which Wozniacki may be able to take away from Safina’s abysmal failure is this: even though she may stand a great chance of ending the year as World Number 1, it may not be the best move for her in the future. At the moment, she is regarded as
an up and coming player with great potential and improvisation skills on course, someone with genuine talent. If she were to become World Number 1 at this point, simply due to the absence of Serena Williams, this image of her would change drastically and she
would instead be remembered as yet another undeserving female player who made it to the top due to luck rather than any skill on her own part. With this situation at hand, Caroline Wozniacki may want to watch out for trophies that glitter: they may not be
gold.
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