Caroline Wozniacki says that on any given night she might dream in any one of three languages — Danish, Polish or English. But it’s a recurring dream that the multilingual Dane, the daughter of Polish immigrants, replays over and over in her head these days. No need for subtitles. She’s seen it before. Again and again. It’s where a smooth-stepping, almost blindingly blonde player glides along a Center Court baseline to reel in a down-the-line backhand, crush a crosscourt forehand passer and raise her triumphant fists to the sky. It’s always a bit fuzzy at first, but she eventually comes to recognize herself in the lead role. The setting shifts from Melbourne to Paris to London or New York. But there’s no mistaking the gravity of the moment — in any language. Judging by the size of the glistening hardware she’s now embracing, it’s a major title.
Some dreams must wait.
The 20-year-old with the pugilistic bent (she often mixes boxing into her off-court regime) has occupied the No. 1 ranking for some 30 weeks now, only briefly relinquishing the throne to Kim Clijsters. In that time, she’s played some of the most consistent tennis the WTA Tour has seen in years. But in a post-Williams/post-Henin world, in which no one seems capable of seizing the throne for any prolonged period (eight different players have ascended to No. 1 in the last three years), some say that’s not good enough. Until she wins her first Slam, she’ll face questions.
“I feel I’ve had great results. I worked hard to get to No. 1,” she said. “People just have to find something to talk about. I’m used to the question. The only way I can answer it is to focus on what I’m doing and what I want to achieve.”
While her coming-out party may officially have been the ’09 U.S. Open, when, as a ninth-seeded teenager, the 5-foot-10 power baseliner cut short Melanie Oudin‘s Cinderella run and muscled her way to the final before falling to Clijsters, 2010 was when she came into her own. Wozniacki won a WTA-best six titles that year en route to No. 1, going an ahead-of-her-time 32-4 in the second half of the season and reaching the WTA Championships final, where Clijsters got the best of her once again, only this time in three tough sets.
Suddenly, that elusive first Slam title didn’t seem so far away. Serena Williams was still sidelined, and in her absence, Wozniacki was the 2011 Australian Open’s top seed. But instead of focusing solely on the task at hand, the most accomplished woman in Scandinavian tennis history appeared to shelve her priorities, getting sucked into assessments that her personality was nearly as one dimensional as her defensive-minded game; that she, well, lacked variety in her dealings with the press. (See boring.)
So she staged a one-woman interview of her own — an impromptu media-room rebellion that didn’t initially sit well with reporters. To the assertion that she always gives the same answers, Wozniacki said bluntly, “I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions.”
A few days later, Wozniacki relayed a rather detailed story about a supposed scrape she had gotten into with a baby kangaroo in a Melbourne park earlier that week, saying that her doctors recommended stitches for a wound she had suffered. Problem was no one bothered to tell the journalists that it was all a farce, at least not the English-speaking ones. Some outlets ran with the story, and Wozniacki soon found herself hosting another presser; only this time she was in full apology mode.
“I’m sorry if I’ve caused any harm or made your job a little bit more difficult,” said Wozniacki, who playfully posed for photos with a blow-up likeness of a kangaroo. “But the kangaroo story, I made it up because it sounded better than what actually happened. I ran into the treadmill.”
What initially appeared to be an all-out SNAFU morphed into a PR victory: Wozniacki had gone from snoozeville denizen to veritable media darling. Yet it all seemed an unnecessary distraction, and she was soon knocked out of the semis by Li Na 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Another Slam opportunity gone by.
Wozniacki has since reached five finals, winning three, including Indian Wells, all the while fielding those same questions about her suspect Slam credentials. And every time she slips up, like she recently did on back-to-back occasions to rising German Julia Goerges in Stuttgart and Madrid, she faces the scrutiny that comes with the territory. But as her father/coach, Piotr, said, “She cannot win everything. She’s no robot.” For now, she’d be smart to avoid the marsupials and stick to her dreams, lest she go the way of Slamless crash-and-burn No. 1s Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic. Wozniacki might find comfort in the fact that Clijsters reached No. 1 more than two years before she ever won a Slam. And nobody’s questioning her legitimacy now.
“It’s been my dream since I was a little girl,” assured Wozniacki. “I’m going to go out there and do my best, and see what the future brings.”
