Ant-eater Wozniacki rages after shock exit
CarolINE Wozniacki swatted away the flying ants but Ekaterina Makarova proved too much of a pest as the second seed exited an infested all England Club yesterday.
World No 2 Wozniacki was not a happy woman on Court No 1. Several times she stopped to complain to British chair umpire Kelly Thomson about getting a bellyful of bugs.
ultimately, sympathy was in short supply. The Dane saved five match points in the deciding set but the sixth sealed her fate, finally confirming a shock 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 win for Makarova.
after her defeat, the australian open champion was in no mood to discuss the ant infestation, yet she said it all on court.
‘We’re here to play tennis, not eat bugs,’ Wozniacki told the umpire during her defeat in two hours and nine minutes. ‘They are around my mouth and my hands. It’s really creeping me out.’
officials brought her a bottle of insect repellant in a bid to stop the swarming, though the russian clearly handled the situation the better of the two.
In losing to world No 35 Makarova, this made Wozniacki one of several scalps to be claimed at Wimbledon in the women’s singles side so far.
‘I don’t really… I only care about myself in this situation,’ Wozniacki said. ‘I had a chance. I fought all I had. I’m out. That’s it. It’s life sometimes.
‘you just have to keep working and come back. Hopefully next time luck will be on my side. I fought as hard as I could. I can’t even be mad at myself because I played up to the level that I can. It was definitely a first for me here (with the ants). I just asked them if they had some insect repellent. There were a lot of them at one point.
‘I think she (Makarova) played above her level and really raised it, got a little lucky and played well when she needed to. I don’t know that she would be able to keep up this level for the rest of the tournament.’
a little unfair on her opponent, perhaps, but Wozniacki was clearly losing her patience quickly on court, and chiefly with our flying friends. However, this is nothing new for players at Wimbledon.
The same occurred last year when British No 1 Jo Konta claimed that she had swallowed a few, and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a few up his nose.
The all England Club even went as far as to release a statement yesterday, explaining that it is mating season for the ants, or ‘nuptial flight’ as they put it.
Wozniacki had other issues too. The 27-year-old called for a supervisor during the deciding set, claiming it was too drizzly to compete, though the officials were having none of it.
Makarova will face Czech player lucie Safarova, the world No 66, in the third round. The 30-year-old gave a good account of herself here, displaying a never- say- die attitude despite some dips in her performance.
Makarova secured the opening set 6-4 before Wozniacki showed all of her Grand Slam-winning mettle by taking the second 6-1, sending the match to a deciding third set.
In the third set, Makarova led 5-1, and even had three match points at 5-3 on her own serve. Wozniacki saved the first two, then a double fault saw the third go to waste.
She then earned a fourth but again, Makarova threw it away and Wozniacki went on to break, making it 5-5. at that point it felt like the momentum was with the Dane and that Makarova would be left to rue all of her missed chances.
at the changeover, the anguish was written on Makarova’s face. She appeared to ask herself all sorts of questions. How did I miss that forehand? How did I mistime that volley? How have I blown this?
Somehow, she regrouped superbly. She held her serve for 6- 5, showing her mental fortitude, and then decisively broke Wozniacki.
‘When it was 5-5 I started thinking about those match points on my serve at 40-0, but I told myself, “No, you are not going to lose this match”,’ Makarova said. ‘I forgot it and started over.’
at times this seemed a battle of who could handle the conditions of ‘Flying ant Day’ better, and Makarova came out on top.
The ants flew in, and Wozniacki flew out.