Caroline Wozniacki didn’t exactly have a good runup to the French Open. In fact, her groundwork for the second major tournament of the year was snagged by a spate of injuries that, among other things, compelled her to retire at the Madrid and Italian Opens. Still, she remained confident in her capacity to at least live up to her standing as the 13th seed. Even as she failed to do better than reach the quarterfinals twice in 11 previous stints at Roland Garros, she believed that all her hard work would pay off; if nothing else, it’s how and why she claimed the Australian Open last year.
At first glance, Wozniacki’s predilection for precision appears well suited for the French Open. More an immovable object than an irresistible force, she makes up with doggedness her relative lack of pace. In hindsight, however, red clay has shown the opposite; the slower surface has allowed opponents to keep rallies going, but with more — and, often, far more — power. And for all her relentlessness, it has proven to be a handicap too large to offset. Which, in a nutshell, was why she found herself crashing out in the first round the other day.
Significantly, Wozniacki looked good early on in her opener at Court Philippe Chatrier — so good, to be sure, that she handed unseeded Veronika Kudermetova a bagel in the first set. And then, for some reason, she lost momentum quickly; she made a whopping 18 unforced errors and could do no better than win three games apiece in the second and third sets. She was wistful in the aftermath, unsure of the causes of her mediocre output. “Definitely not the best match I’ve ever played,” she deadpanned. “You work hard, and you want to see results.”
Wozniacki will keep trying, of course. She doesn’t know what giving up — or even tempering her own expectations — means, never mind that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. As she noted in her post-mortem, “I just have to try and stay positive. Obviously, it’s not as easy to stay positive when things aren’t going your way. But I think that’s when you really need to.” Indeed. She’s a grinder, steadfast and self-assured, and quick to find motivation in setbacks. She’ll be back, and it’s simply a matter of when.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
