Thursday, January 23, 2020

Abyssinia, Caro

And with that, the Dane's three-set 3rd Round loss at the Australian Open at the hands of Ons Jabeur, the career of Caroline Wozniacki, the greatest player in Scandinavian tennis history, is over.



The numerous lectures and notions presented during all those "Wozniology-101" classes -- I hope you saved all your hastily scribbled notes -- are now locked away for the sake of posterity. Well, unless Caro, still just 29, decides to give it another short-term go a few seasons from now. But setting that sort of future occurrence aside, it really is goodbye.



Backspin has had a full history, and come full circle, with the Dane. From the promise of her teen years, to her rise to #1, to the ongoing debate that lasted for nearly a decade about when, if, or *if it even mattered* whether she'd finally win her maiden slam crown. From her "Princess Charming/Princess of Harm" early days, when her winning personality combined with several cramping/crying comebacks as a teenager in 2009 to prove that looks could be deceiving and that she *did* indeed have a bit of grit and "harm" in her that would ultimately serve her well, to the frustrating "Midge" years when she seemed a bit *too* eager to please the masses (ala a certain "Belgian Barbie" at the time) while at the same time not committing *all* her resources to knocking down the final door behind which the "public legitimacy" of her career's greatness resided, it's been a compelling experience to watch Wozniacki skip down her personal yellow brick road to her version of the Emerald City.

Fittingly, that journey ends in Oz, where her career finally had its refreshing catharsis two years ago. Though born in Odense and having traveled the world for so long, Wozniacki's tennis career will always have a home in Melbourne.



So... goodbye, farewell, good luck and amen. We'll be seein' you, Caro.




Here are a few re-posts from Backspin's past, including the match report from Wozniacki's triumph in the 2018 Australian Open final, and her recent write-up for inclusion in the "Players of the Decade" series for the 2010's...


[from "Day of the Dane" - January 27, 2018]

Caroline Wozniacki was right all those years ago when she was questioned about her lack of a slam title, and owning of a game that didn't quite seem up to acquiring one anytime soon. The Dane said, "I've got time." Time to play. Time to recalibrate. Time to perfect, tighten and make sharp any lingering dull edges. After all these years, she's finally gone and done it.



As they say Down Under... good on ya, Caro.



On a humid night in Melbourne, it was a certainty that one of two women -- one the current #1, the other a former and maybe future top-ranked player -- would finally see her career moment of truth come to pass, cleansing her past of a last remaining blemish and bringing to a definitive end an until-now elusive personal quest. Becoming the newly-crowned champion of the Australian Open would effectively close the book on a personal tennis history pockmarked and defined by "coming up short" often enough that the practice had come to define them, dwarfing all their many successes and sentencing them to "asterisk" status rather than being recognized as a player who'd been proven to be something, and someone, worthy of being called "great."

Not that it was going to be easy. In fact, it was always going to be anything but -- their respective histories told us (and them) that, so why should this old-chapter-closing/new-door-opening aspect of their journeys be any different?

While both Wozniacki and Simona Halep had been in slam finals before, it was the Romanian who'd had the opportunity to see what she was missing close-up. So close that she actually thought that the prize might be hers. While the Dane lost in straight sets in U.S. Open finals to Kim Clijsters (2009) and Serena Williams ('14), Halep has gone three sets in Paris. Twice. To Maria Sharapova ('14) in a match the Russian declared one of her toughest slams finals, and just last year being on the wrong end of Alona Ostapenko's coming out party despite having held a set and 3-0 lead on the Latvian, then another 3-1 advantage in the 3rd.

In order to change the first line of their career bios, though, both women had to come to realize over the course of time that neither could get *there* from what was, at the time, *here*. Something had to change. Both had to first remedy the one aspect of their games that consistently held them back.

For Wozniacki, it was a lack of willful aggression woven into her fitness & defensive-oriented style, an aspect made even more potent over the last season and a half due to an improved forehand, serve and willingness to move in from behind the baseline and take the initiative rather than wait out an error from her opponent, a tact which had often allowed *their* games to dictate the outcome of the most important points. The situation led to a seemingly endless public dissection (dubbed "Wozniology-101," in these parts) of her aims, distractions and frustrating resistance to do *everything* -- sometimes the *one* thing -- she could do to seize the moment that she'd once insisted she "had time" to figure out how to claim. For Halep, her biggest obstacle was the space between her ears, made a liability because of, until over the last year, a smothering perfectionist trait that made her her own worst enemy, and often led to negative thoughts and her giving up as leads and matches slipped away on the game's biggest stages, rather than accepting her mistakes, regrouping and coming back at her opponent with more heart, guile and desire than she had before. Usually, stuck in development hell, the Romanian found her way to what this space has always referred to (for far too long) as the fabled "Cliffs of Simona," where Halep's grandest slam hopes often went to die simply because she flung herself over the side rather than hold on for dear life and fight, fight, fight.

Both came into 2018 off seasons in which they proved, maybe especially to themselves, that they *were* capable of making the necessary changes that could allow for their slam dreams to come true. Wozniacki, her increased level of aggression enhanced by a season of work with "assistant coach/hitting instructor extraordinaire" Sascha Bajin, led the tour in wins and matches, picked up her biggest career title at the WTA Finals and came into this AO ranked #2 after a combination of lingering injury and a lack of focus (or so it seemed, at least, with her growing off-court stardom and notoriety) had seen her drop as low as #74 late in 2016. Meanwhile, Halep had managed to find the better angels of her true tennis self last season, taking to heart coach Darren Cahill's pleas to always give her all, no matter the frustrations (he briefly walked away from his duties last spring after believing she'd "given up" in an important match in Miami, forcing her to commit to the change or start all over again with someone else). The Cahill gambit worked, as Halep, after much trial and error, found it within herself to finally win a "one match from the #1 ranking" contest and ended the season atop the WTA rankings.

But, still, one demon remained for both. One that could only be slain on site in either Melbourne, Paris, London or New York.

With their AO paths unnaturally littered over the two weeks, both woman had still more tests to pass to even get the opportunity to play for the title. In fact, it was an almost every round occasion. In the 1st Round, Halep badly rolled her ankle against Destanee Aiava, putting in doubt her further participation in the first slam of the season (her first as a #1 seed), though she'd go on to labor another 10+ hours on the court to reach the final. In the 2nd Round, Wozniacki staged a comeback from 5-1, 40/15 down (2 MP) to Jana Fett. In the 3rd Round, Halep battled for 3:45 against Lauren Davis, surviving being triple MP down to win a 15-13 deciding 3rd set. Then, in the semifinals, Halep again had to fight back -- vs. '16 AO champ Angelique Kerber -- after being two MP down to survive once more. Both more than earned their spot in the final. Both were proud of the progress they'd made. But only one would be rewarded with shiny hardware and a soft spot on which their career could finally land, while the other would exit ever closer to glory, but still empty-handed.

Their face-off in the AO final was their seventh meeting (Caro led 4-2), but their first ever meeting in a major, as well as a singles final. With a maiden slam title and the #1 ranking at stake, no less. So, you know... no biggie.

After opening the set with a hold, Wozniacki quickly took a love/30 lead on Halep's serve. She moved forward to put away a forehand to reach double break point, and took a 2-0 lead. The advantage held up for the majority of the set, as the Dane's usual get-to-everything defense was stellar and she remained incredibly tidy on in her new-and-improved service game (she came in having lost serve just once in the previous three rounds), offsetting the awakening of Halep's aggressive forehand and back-to-back love holds from the Romanian after dropping her initial effort.



Wozniacki hadn't faced a BP and had won thirteen of sixteen 1st serve points when she stepped up to serve for the set at 5-2. But with the Romanian portion of the crowd making their presence known, Wozniacki seemed to be irritated by the noise. She proceeded to fail to get back a big Halep forehand and fell behind love/30, and her third consecutive error (after had just six in the first seven games) put her down triple BP. She saved two, one with an ace, but another rally dominated by the Romanian's forehand ended with a Wozniacki error as the set went back on serve at 5-4. Halep fired a pair of aces and once again held at love (she led 12-5 in winners). The tenth game was followed by two more easy holds from both women and things were set to be decided via a tie-break, the first between the two in their head-to-head series.

After the Romanians chanted "Si-mo-na! Si-mo-na! Si-mo-na!" before the TB started, Wozniacki grabbed a quick mini-break lead at 2-0. Halep fired an ace to avoid a deeper hole, but Wozniacki's incredible defense and serving didn't allow her to recover in the short window of the TB as she had in the overall set. The Dane took another 5-2 lead, but this time Halep couldn't reverse the tide, as Wozniacki served out the 1st, taking the breaker at 7-2.

With twenty of the last twenty-four AO women's finals having been won by the player who took the opening set, Wozniacki now found herself in the lead role. But if we've learned anything from watching Halep -- aka "New Simona" -- at this AO it's that she's no longer programmed to consider mentally quitting when the going gets tough. Already physically pushed to the limit on multiple occasions through the first six rounds of play, the Romanian would be so once again as the Extreme Heat policy was in effect on this Melbourne summer evening.

Wozniacki's love hold for 1-1 in the 2nd gave her a 13-point win streak on serve (it'd ultimately reach 16), but it was Halep's eleven-minute hold a game later that proved to be the key game in the set. Saving four break points, Halep finally stayed a step ahead of the Dane on the scoreboard in the 2nd by utilizing a drop shot to convert on her second game point chance. After game #5, Halep called for a trainer, who checked her blood pressure, as the Romanian's 12-plus hours on court at this tournament seemed to finally be catching up with her. But as sea gulls squawked overhead, Halep put her head down and hoped for an opening. And then it arrived just in the nick of time.

Up love/30 on Wozniacki's serve, Halep began grasping at her left thigh (the same leg on which she'd rolled her ankle six matches ago). As occurred near the end of the 1st set, Wozniacki played her only bad game of the set. She'd escaped the moment earlier, but not this time. A forehand error put her down 15/40, then Halep broke with a forehand down the line to take a 5-3 lead and serve for the set. From love/30 and 15/40 down, the Romanian saved back-to-back BP, then failed to put away a set point by misfiring on a shot into an open court behind Wozniacki. After missing out on a second SP chance, and saving a third BP, Halep knotted the match on SP #3 by getting Wozniacki on the run and finally putting a ball just out of her reach up the middle of the court as the Dane scrambled in vain to chase it down. With the 6-3 2nd in hand, after the Romanian saved all seven of the BP she faced in the set, the final went to the 3rd -- the third deciding set situation of this AO for both Halep and Wozniacki.



After both players left the court for ten minutes, as allowed between sets under the Intense Heat policy, viewers immediately searched for clues about whether -- or which of -- the players might emerge more refreshed. Halep, for one, seemed to be searching for one last burst of energy, as her proverbial tank had alreadly seemingly been near empty for at least a week's time. She failed to convert two GP chances in the second game, then pulled a backhand wide and found herself BP down. Wozniacki took advantage of a soft second serve and fired a deep return that Halep hit wide, getting the break to lead 2-0.



Then, Wozniacki suddenly became engaged in a long service game much like Halep's from the 2nd set. Only she wasn't able to lock away the hold. Halep led 15/40, but the Dane saved both BP with big serves. Halep seemed to sense that this might be her last stand, and she managed to fight off two Wozniacki GP (and avoided a third w/ a successful replay challenge), finally converting on her sixth BP of the game with a Wozniacki DF, getting things back on serve at 2-1 at the end of the 12-minute game.

In the aftermath of game #3, Halep immediately fell behind love/40 with a series of tired serves, as Wozniacki broke for a 3-1 lead. But Halep's "SuperGnat" tendencies returned a game later, as she found still more reserves inside her body to put all she could into her ground strokes and carve out love/30 and 15/40 leads, then saw Wozniacki spray a forehand as things went back on serve at 3-2. The Romanian then won a 17-shot rally for 15/15 and fired an ace to lead 40/30 en route to holding for 3-3. Before serving in game #7, Wozniacki put out a call for a trainer to look at her left knee, then saw Halep fire a backhand return down the line to take a love/30 lead. The Dane got to GP, but ended the game with back-to-back forehand errors to drop serve and fall behind 4-3.



Wozniacki came out of the medical time out showing no ill effects of her dropped serve and, in fact, may have gotten the final surge of energy that Halep had previously been seeking out. She went up love/30 on Halep's serve, breaking on her second BP to knot the score at 4-4. It was the sixth break of the set, after the two had combined for just three in the first two. Thus, it would be Wozniacki's hold for 5-4 that proved to be key, as it forced Halep to hold (something she'd done just once in the set). After Halep successfully challenged the chair umpire's incorrect overrule of a long Wozniacki shot on the baseline, the Romanian led 30/15. But she double-faulted away the next point, giving away any momentum she'd gained just moments before. The Dane's brilliant defense kept a rally alive that Halep had appeared about to win on multiple occasions a point later, the Wozniacki fired a winner behind the Romanian to reach match point.



One point away from the greatest, belatedly career-defining win of her tennis lifetime, the Dane was about to be the previously slam-less and star-crossed player who'd bask in the light under the Melbourne stars. Halep netted a backhand to end the match's final rally, and it was over. Finally. All of it (at least for one of them). With a 7-6(2)/3-6/6-4 victory, Wozniacki completed a sweep of the final three games to become the first Danish slam singles champion, and simultaneously remove her name from atop the list of the best players to have never won a major. She's no longer the woman with the most singles titles and the most weeks at #1 who's never won a major title. That's over -- she'll return to #1 for the first time in six years on Monday.

While "New" Simona was the continuing story of the women's competition in Melbourne, "New" Caro was the one who celebrated at its conclusion.



Sweet, Caroline.

Of course, while the Dane floated on air, Halep covered her head in a towel, once again having to mentally pound out an internal deal between her head and heart after coming agonizingly close to ending her career-long slam drought. Again. Halep finished just two points behind Wozniacki (110-108) in the match stats, and more than proved her mettle as a fighter over the course of this AO. Her heart guided her through a thicket of drama, pain, mental fatigue and exhaustion to get this far, only to have the rug pulled out from underneath her feet one more time. While she smiled and put up a brave face, you know how much this latest bit of deja vu had to sting. Meanwhile, seemingly everyone was expressing how much they hurt *for* her. Even Wozniacki offered her apologies to Halep for winning the match, as surely everyone else will for quite some time upon sighting the 26-year old Romanian.

But Simona can't afford to be sad for long. After earning her warrior shield and armor at this slam, she's grown in stature in the eyes of all, title or no title.

It may take a while to fully digest it, but Halep may have seen the seed she planted last season for a future grand slam title run show its first signs of flowering during these past two weeks. Having come so close to slam glory, even closer than she did last year in Paris, Halep should be emboldened by her efforts in Melbourne rather than discouraged by the notion of them having gone for naught. The quicker she realizes that -- and she *will*, if she hasn't already, even if it does come after a lot of rest and maybe a few frustrated tears, shouts and various items tossed about -- the sooner it may be *she* who's lifting a slam championship trophy. If she can gather her forces for another (maybe a bit less drama-filled ongoing) battle, maybe it'll even be the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen just a few months from now.

I've said before that Halep's rocky, sometimes heartbreaking quest for a slam title reminds me most of that of the late, great Jana Novotna. The Czech, too, had to endure a series of near misses before finally, at long last, getting to experience *her* greatest moment. And it was well worth it, made even more meaningful by the pain and hurt so publicly experienced on the road to getting there. That moment for Novotna came in her fourth slam singles final. Halep's next final would be *her* fourth, as well.

I'm just sayin'.



But while Halep will continue to seek out her destiny, after a Melbourne experience that began with a Destanee but didn't change her own, Wozniacki's story has changed forever as she moves forward with a much lighter load on her shoulders and pysche, and the knowledge that she was correct all along. All else is in the past. Poof! Up in smoke. All the questions. All the snickering. Gone! All the eye-rolls and negativism. All the raised eyebrows and questions about whether the Family Wozniacki (well, father Piotr) would ever open its arms and accept an extra set of eyes (well, they did for a while... but Bajin was still gone by the start of '18, having played his role well). Yesterday's laments.

"All" it took was one gloriously grand moment to turn a career that would have been considered an "underachieving" one without a major title into a Hall of Fame-worthy entity in an instant. Why, it's exciting enough -- and so much of a relief -- to make a 27-year old wrap her arms around a shiny stand-in for Daphne Akhurst as if it was the security blanket she'd wanted all along but was afraid to admit she'd ultimately feel incomplete without.



After all these years, Caroline has arrived. Finally, the Dane is great.






[from "Decade's Best: The Players of the Decade 2010-19, Player #5" - January 1, 2020]

While some players rose steadily over the course of the decade, and others flashed brightly before struggling to stay ahead of the pack, Wozniacki ducked and weaved her through the 2010's, shadowboxing her way past it all even while the "most important" chapter of her journey was anything but a foregone conclusion. Still, in the end, the Dane survived the pitfalls of a long career, finding a way to stand tall before signaling her decision to exit the fight. Just like she always said she would.

Wozniacki didn't need to make a name for herself in the 2010's. When the decade started, though she was just 19, she'd *already* done that. A junior slam champion in 2006 at Wimbledon, she'd won her first WTA title (in Stockholm) by the end of '08, became the first Dane to reach a slam final (U.S.) and the first Top 10 player from Scandinavia in '09, a season in which she made her successful title defense in New Haven (an event she'd ultimately win four straight years). She reached #1 in 2010, becoming the first of what would be eight women who'd rise to the top spot for the first time in their careers during the decade. Wozniacki finished the first year of the 2010's as the season-ending #1, then did it again in 2011. She even continued a streak that she'd begun in 2008, eventually winning at least one singles title a year for eleven straight seasons. But even while her defensive abilities, athleticism and endurance were admired and acknowledged, and she'd shown a competitive grit that belied her oft-sunny attitude, she was quite possibly the most criticized #1 player ever.

Dubbed a "pusher" who lacked power and, rather than *take* a match's big points, was content to simply put balls inside the court until her opponent made a mistake at the end of a long rally, she was more accurately described as a player who lacked the willingness to play the sort of aggressive game necessary to take down other top players and win a major. She always *could* employ such a gameplan, but didn't see the need to change what had already made her the #1 player in the world, not to mention a global star before she'd turned 20 (largely because of her youthful, personal likeability). In retrospect, Wozniacki could turn out to be the *last* top player to be able to truly break through into the *overall* sports consciousness even while spending an entire decade in the spotlight without lifting a major title.

In a sense, she had a point about not *needing* to change a thing, but her lack of a slam title hung over her nonetheless. She never outwardly felt that she had anything to prove and, whenever she was questioned/interrogated about the matter (which was often), she maintained that she "had time" to win a major before her career was over, and wasn't worried. She was young, after all. How many people other than herself, her closest advisers and most optimistic supporters *truly* believed it, though, was questionable.

While the frustration over this unchanging reality grew (at Backspin, the discussions about the how's/how-to's and why's/why not's about it all came to be known as "Wozniology-101"), the Dane simply played on, and never fretted about her perceived plight.

While she went through a slight dip in results in the decade's middle years, winning just one title a season from 2013-15, she maintained her Top 10 standing through 2014. That season, after seeing golfer Rory McIlroy break off their marriage engagement, Wozniacki seemed to find the single-minded, something-to-prove mindset that so many had wished to see in her a few seasons earlier. After simultaneously training off the court to run her first marathon (which she did in New York that fall) while still playing a regular tour schedule, the Dane took a somewhat more aggressive mindset on court and produced her best slam result in five years, reaching the U.S. Open final (a loss to S.Williams). Unfortunately, the change didn't stick, as Wozniacki's season-ending ranking slipped to the bottom of the Top 20 (#17/#19) the next two seasons as she dealt with inconsistent results and injuries (often struggling w/ a bad ankle, which threw a major wrench into her defensive-minded attack). She was forced to miss Roland Garros, her first absence from a major since 2007 and the only one of her career, and fell to as low as #74 in '16 before a strong 4th Quarter (wins in Tokyo and Hong Kong) brought her back into the Top 20. But it was what she began in 2017 that would forever alter the opening paragraph of her career bio.

While she won just one title in '17, it was maybe the most important season of her playing life. For the first time since the early years of the decade, winning once again became an easy habit for the Dane. She reached big finals in Dubai, Miami, Toronto, Tokyo and at the WTA Finals. And while she'd *almost* been written off by most as far as ever snatching that elusive slam title after having slipped into the "second tier" of top players on tour in recent seasons, '17 put her back squarely in the conversation. She reached eight finals (tying the career-best mark she set each year from 2009-11), and though she only won twice she did so in her final two attempts: a successful defense of her Tokyo crown and the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals. She posted fourteen Top 10 wins on the season (by far her best ever), including three over three different #1's (becoming the first player to do that since Dinara Safina in '08), and finished at #3 (her best since 2011). Her short-term addition of Sascha Bajin, who'd previously worked with Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka (and, later Naomi Osaka), as a hitting partner/"assistant coach" seemed to spark a change in the Dane's mindset between the lines, as the long-hoped-for decision to develop a more sustained aggressive gameplan was finally put into action.

Unfortunately, Wozniacki didn't keep Bajin on board into '18 (once again going back to the comfortability of having her dad Piotr oversee her game), but whatever influence he may have had on her (and the success she saw over the '17 season) carried over into the new year. In Melbourne, after saving two MP vs. Jana Fett in the 2nd Round, she recorded her fourth career #1 victory (all coming in a six-month span in 2017-18) in the Australian Open final over Simona Halep to (finally) grab her maiden slam crown some 11 years, 43 majors, and 149 slam matches after her unacknowledged quest had began with her '07 RG debut at age 16. She was the first Danish (and Scandinavian) slam winner. The title run put her back in the #1 ranking (for a month) for the the first time since 2012, the longest gap between #1 stints in women's tennis history. It gave her 71 total weeks in the top spot, the ninth most ever for a WTA player.

After dealing with what she'd deemed a "mystery" ailment that impacted her training, in October Wozniacki announced that she'd been diagnosed with the auto-immune disease rheumatoid arthritis before the U.S. Open. She figured a way around the situation to win her first high-level Premier crown since '11 in Bejiing (without losing a set) that fall, and finished at #3 for a second straight year. It was her seventh Top 10 season of the decade, tied with S.Williams and Kvitova for the most on tour. 2019, though, proved to be a trying year between the lines for the Dane (though she did have a fine time off it, marrying former basketball player David Lee in June). Once again dealing with injuries (and with her condition likely making matters worse), she failed to win a title for the first time since '07 and played in just one final (her lowest since she reaching her first in '08). Her #38 season-ending ranking was her lowest since 2007 (#64), as well.

Wozniacki won 24 singles titles in the decade (third-best on tour), giving her 30 for her career. 43 of her 55 finals came in the 2010's, during which she recorded 51 (of 61) Top 10 wins. She added four additional slam SF results (3 from 2010-11, then another in '16... though a Wimbledon QF-or-better result remained elusive in her career), reached the '10 WTAF final in addition to her '17 win, and was 6-5 in high-level Premier finals (though there was a seven-year gap between wins in 2011 and '18).

While her big moment in the sun on the court took a while to be realized, Wozniacki was busy off it throughout the decade. She found time for modeling (in the fashion of designer Stella McCartney, who also designed many of her tennis outfits, in the pages of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue in multiple years beginning in 2015, and the ESPN Magazine body issue in '17). In 2016, she was Denmark's flagbearer at the Rio Olympics opening ceremonies, and in May '18 she was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Queen of Denmark.

Late in '19, Wozniacki announced that she would retire following the '20 Australian Open. It wasn't a shocking development, as her off-court interests and (after the '18 AO) lack of any true remaining on-court goal, combined with the difficulty of her medical condition, had already brought it to the fore as a potential development. One might have wondered if she'd have waited until after the Tokyo Olympics, during which she'll turn 30 this coming summer, before walking away. But Wozniacki never seemed to harbor any notions of an unfulfilled tennis career (and she'd "been there, done that" as far as the Olympic experience goes, reaching the QF in '12 before carrying the flag four years later).

It's hard to tell if Wozniacki would have continued her career beyond the '20 AO if she hadn't won the title in Melbourne two years earlier, but it likely at least had some impact on the decision. It certainly makes walking away with potentially *more* on the table easier than it would have been without it. The '18 win proved quite a bit, closed a lot of career loopholes, and allowed her the chance to take a deep breath and consider her options. Marriage, then retirement, etc. And now whatever comes next.

It was a great (eventual) development both for her and tennis that she finally won her major, allowing her to erase any possible stigma that may have lingered around her career had she not. That one win took away all the negative comments that had hung over her head at the start of the 2010's about what would have been a Hall of Fame-worthy career even without a major title. With that AO crown, she'll probably go into the Hall the first year she's eligible (of course, who's to say she might not go become a mother and then return before that five-year window closes -- at 29, she's young enough to give it a 2-3 year go at age 31/32 if she got the urge... it's been done before).

The Dane will end career as one of best-liked player by fans and foes alike, and was long considered one of the most cheerful and good-natured figures on tour, even as she *did* have a pointed streak that occasionally came out when challenged. Thankfully, such outward chestiness was utilized effectively between the lines before she was through, via the sort of aggressive play that won the Australian Open. As result, her career will end with no page unturned. It's not a bad way to bow out, when one thinks about it.

After a long public discussion, Wozniacki proved -- at virtually the eleventh hour -- that she was right all along. She *did* have time to win a major. And now she'll have time to do whatever she wishes, for however long she desires.







All for now, Caro.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 11:27 PM 

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