#1 – WOZNIACKI, STILL LOOKING FOR MAJOR TITLE
Show over.
Wozniacki, she of the golden smile and plenty of gold in the piggy bank (over $ 10 million in prize money) is 21, has won 18 tournaments and intends to seize the US Open as the 19th. There’s only one thing wrong with this pretty picture of Polish parentage: Caroline is serving her 46th consecutive week in that forbidding hideaway called No. 1. It’s hers all alone – yet most of her colleagues and tennis degenerates believe she doesn’t deserve it, despite all her gleaming numbers.
Why? Because she has never won a major title. The closest she came was as a US Open runnerup to Belgian Kim Clijsters a year ago. But, no major – No No. 1. That’s the silly way it is in the female game, dictated by Medusa, the WTA (Women’s Tennis Assn) computer,
Anybody who can figure out Medusa’s brain and the computer deserves an MIT degree. Suppose the Red Sox won the pennant but the Yankees scored more runs and were awarded No. 1?
You get the idea. If she doesn’t win the title, Caroline will remain No.1. Ask Medusa, not me.
Beating Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-3, 6-1 in yesterday’s first rounder at Flushing Meadows, Wosniacki “didn’t miss; she was so confident, just kept balls going along the baseline” according to the No. 125 loser.
Caroline was having fun with reporters who wondered if she were bothered by the No. 1 debate and criticisms of the mysterious system. “People can say what they want,” she said, her blue eyes glowing merrily, “I’m No.1. I’ve won a lot of tournaments. Why shouldn’t I be high? I just won a tournament, New Haven, and I’m improving.” She felt like a Phi Beta Kappa, winning four straight titles on the Yale campus. “I thought about going to college. It looked nice, fun, the college students were very friendly but I couldn’t do it with my schedule.”
She seemed amused by talk of her dating the golfing champion Rory McIlroy. “You know, he has something I’m looking for, (he won the US Open in golf) and I have something he is looking for. He wants to be #1. So it’s good to have something on each other.”
Does being No. 1 seem a burden at times?
“No. It’s definitely an honor, a dream.”
Then Caroline dropped a bomb. She’s adding a coach – but it’s a mystery. A he or she or it? She won’t say who or what. “Well, I know you like to add something to your stories, but this person wants to stay in the background.”
Maybe a Yale geometry professor to teach her improved angles. Yale was fun.
Send her a bulldog that barks “Boola-boola!”
Tags: Caroline Wozniacki, Nuria Llagostera Vives, Rory Mcilroy, US Open 2011
August 30 2011 12:34 pm | US Open
Gaston on 01 Sep 2011 at 4:37 am #
Wozniacki fully deserves her #1 ranking. If not, who else should be there? Zvonareva? She hasn’t won a slam either. Sharapova? She hasn’t won a slam in the last twelve months which is the period that the rankings are all about. Li Na? She’s done rather poorly in anything other than the AO and FO. Kvitova? Has hardly won a match since Wimbledon. Serena or Clijsters? Even though these two are at their best probably THE best, they are because of all their injury problems in effect part-time players. Caroline in contrast to all of the above plays good tennis from Januari up to and including October. Everyone else plays great for a few months (or weeks) and then they go through a slump or their body breaks down and they get injured. On a list that is supposed to reflect a players’ results over a 52 week period it’s entirely logical that someone who has played well for a whole season is on top, and not someone who has enjoyed two weeks of glory. Does that mean that Caroline is the best player in the world? No – not in terms of peak performance. The winners of the majors can claim that title. But Caroline is the best player in terms of consistency and that’s why she’s THE REAL #1, no matter what the critics say. People should stop giving her such a hard time about it. It’s ridiculous! As though she has done something she should apologize for.