Caroline Wozniacki is confident she will be able to compete with the top players again when she comes out of retirement next month.
The former world number one, who has two children, announced last month she would be ending her three-year exile this summer and will return for the American hard court swing that begins after Wimbledon.
The 33-year-old, who won the 2018 Australian Open and reached two US Open finals, was at the top of the women’s game for the best part of a decade before she called time on her career in 2020.
Since then Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka have broken away to form a ‘big three’ but Wozniacki says that if she can compete with Serena Williams then she should be able to hack it against the current crop of players.
Speaking ahead of her appearance in the women’s invitation doubles at Wimbledon, she said: “I have played them before, I know exactly what I am up against. I know they are playing extremely well and aggressive and consistent and it is going to be a tough challenge but I am up for the challenge.
“I have fought tough players before and fought my way around so I am going to do the same this time.
“Obviously there are a lot of good players out there and it is a high level of tennis but I played with the greatest of all time in Serena. She’s the best player I ever played and she isn’t around anymore so that feels good to me at the moment! I am happy not to have to play her anymore.
View this post on Instagram
“I am not putting a time on how long I will play, just see how the body holds up, see how I feel, how the kids and everyone does.
“I am excited to be back and excited to be playing and hopefully it will be my best tennis yet.”
Wozniacki, who resumes her professional career in Montreal later this month, is one of several mothers who are playing on tour.
And the Dane believes she may now have less pressure when she is competing.
“I think for me, I will go out there and enjoy myself and play the way I have been practising and that is all you can do, give it the best when you are out there,” she said.
“My family and my kids is the most important thing in my life to me so I know that if I win or lose they won’t look at me any differently.
“It is going to be a great experience for us as a family to have the kids see a little bit of the world and meet new people and see new cultures. It is such a good learning experience for them so young before they go to real school.”
Kim Clijsters is a flagbearer in the modern era for returning to the tour after having children, winning the US Open in one of her first tournaments back by beating Wozniacki in the final.
And she says the Dane will need to get to grips with new challenges as she resumes her career.
“When you get into a situation like that when you’re a mother but you also become a professional athlete again, you have an expectation of how you did it before and the time that goes into it,” Clijsters said.
“That was for me a little bit hard at the beginning to balance, am I going to put six, seven hours a day focusing on myself again and how do I feel about that?
“You have to leave your daughter or your kids behind so I struggled a little bit with that in the beginning but then you learn that there’s other people that are really good at taking care of your kids too.
“I think that was a little bit of a challenge mentally to get that motherly instinct – you don’t push it aside but you have to balance that so you have enough of both. I think that will be probably the biggest challenge at the beginning.”
Gauff breezes past Tomova in Wuhan opener
Coco Gauff cruised through her first-ever match at the Wuhan Open with a comfortable straight-sets win over Viktoriya Tomova.
Fresh from winning the China Open on Sunday, Gauff returned to action with a 6-1 6-2 victory in 76 minutes.
The American was given an early scare as her serve was broken in the first game, but she recovered brilliantly, storming through the next six in a row to take the first set.
She picked up where she left off in the second, winning 10 games on the bounce. Despite Tomova showing some late fight after Gauff was 4-0 up, the world number three had already done enough.
Gauff won 15 of 32 first return points (47%), and dominated on her own serve after the early blip, hitting five aces, and winning 83% of her first serve points (24/29).
She will face Magda Linette or Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.
Data Debrief: Gauff defies age once again
Only Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 (27) has won more WTA-1000 matches in a year than Gauff in 2024 (22) before turning 21, since the format was introduced in 2009. She has equalled Iga Swiatek's record from 2022 (also 22 wins).
In fact, only Swiatek (30) and Aryna Sabalenka (24) have won more WTA-1000 matches than her in 2024, as she extended her winning streak to seven matches.
Among players to have played 10 or more matches in China in the 21st century, Gauff has the highest winning percentage in events played in the country (91.7%, 11-1).
Alcaraz battles past Monfils to keep winning streak alive
Carlos Alcaraz battled past Gael Monfils, becoming the first Spaniard to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-final since 2017 as he kept his winning streak alive.
Having lost to the Frenchman in Cincinnati earlier this year, Alcaraz won 6-4 7-5 on Wednesday, which was his 12th victory on the bounce.
Monfils was bidding to become the second-oldest ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finalist in history at 38 years old and matched Alcaraz through the early stages, almost forcing a break.
But he could not hold onto a lead in the ninth game of the first set, and the 21-year-old took advantage.
Alcaraz did not have it all his own way in the second set despite an assured performance, which saw him serve three games to love overall.
Monfils could only defend two of three break points in the penultimate game as Alcaraz pressed home his advantage. He will meet Tomas Machac on Thursday.
"The main thing I tried in this match was to stay calm, to control my emotions and wait for my chances," said Alcaraz.
"That helped me a lot to show my best tennis during the match. I am feeling the ball really well, much more than I was during the American swing. So, I am happy to be able to do it and keep going."
Data Debrief: No stopping Alcaraz
Alcaraz has improved his record to 51-9 for the season with this win over Monfils and is into his 14th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Since the format's inception in 1990, Alcaraz (76.5%, 62-19) only trails three players for win percentage at ATP Masters 1000 events: Novak Djokovic (82.02%), Rafael Nadal (82.00%) and Roger Federer (77.9%).
Sabalenka records 50th win of year to progress in Wuhan
Aryna Sabalenka maintained her perfect record at the Wuhan Open and clinched her 50th tour-level win of the year as she beat Katerina Siniakova in straight sets on Wednesday.
The Belarusian returned to winning ways after her shock exit at the China Open, with the score 6-4 6-4 after 94 minutes to reach the third round.
Sabalenka weathered an early storm as Siniakova pushed her at the start before the pair traded breaks just when it looked like she had gained an edge.
However, the world number two broke her serve again in the final game to take the set, and it was a similar story in the second.
The Czech valiantly defended her serve as the pair traded blows, but Sabalenka showed her edge by winning the final two games to set up a meeting with Yulia Putintseva in the next round.
"I missed Wuhan a lot," Sabalenka said. "I just have really good memories of winning, two times, the title here. Just Wuhan brings me a lot of great memories, good vibes.
"Siniakova, who is fighting for every point, it's really good that I was able to finish this match in two sets."
Data Debrief: Posting big numbers
The Wuhan Open has been out of the calendar for the last five years, but Sabalenka has settled back in quickly.
She has won all 13 of her matches played at the tournament (winning the title in both 2018 and 2019) and is the first player to win their first 13 matches in a single city hosting a WTA event since Maria Sharapova in Stuttgart (13-0 between 2012 and 2014).
The victory over Siniakova is her 50th of the WTA Tour in 2024, a number she will be pleased to reach after having her 15-match winning streak snapped in Beijing last week.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
