Wozniacki wants No1 rank back
This could be a historic week for Caroline Wozniacki, who can return to No 1 in the women’s tennis world for the first time since January 2012.
For that to happen she needs to win the Auckland title next week, with Garbine Muguruza losing before the final in Brisbane and Simona Halep exiting before the quarterfinals in Shenzhen in the first round of tournaments for 2018.
However, Wozniacki said that’s something she’s not thinking about at the moment.
‘‘Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it too much,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ve been trying to prepare the best I can and [will] try to win this tournament and we’ll see what happens afterwards.’’
Wozniacki has won 27 titles over her career, so it’s something of a surprise that a player of her quality has never won in Auckland.
She did play in one of the tournament’s great finals in 2015, but lost to Venus Williams 2-6 6-3 6-3 and does feel like this is an event she must finally knock off.
‘‘Obviously I’ve never won the tournament before, so it will be great to do that this year,’’ she said.
Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland both flew into Auckland on Friday morning.
‘‘I love starting my year here,’’ she said. ‘‘So it’s great to be back and hopefully it’s going to be a great week for me.’’
Wozniacki said she’s been quietly preparing for the new season, although last month she did find time to get engaged to twotime NBA All Star, David Lee.
‘‘It’s great to be back, it’s been a couple of years,’’ Radwanska said, although it’s actually been three years.
‘‘But of course I have great memories and I’m happy to be here. It’s a great tournament to start (the year), you can have great tennis right from the beginning and it’s also great preparation before the first grand slam.’’
Radwanska won the tournament when she came to Auckland in 2014, not dropping a set in her five victories.
Since that triumph, she’s chosen to start the year playing the tournaments in Brisbane or Shenzhen, but felt it would be good to begin 2018 back in Auckland.
‘‘It’s nice to change things,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m happy to be back again, because I played really good tennis last time. Radwanska is a player who often gets off to good starts each year.
At the beginning of this year she reached a quarterfinal and final at the two tournaments leading into the Australian Open. For her 2018 campaign, Radwanska said she’d put in plenty of work over the off season.