Former No. 1 Wozniacki coming out of retirement
Caroline Wozniacki, a former No. 1-ranked tennis player and the 2018 Australian Open champion, announced Thursday that she is returning to competition three years after she retired to start a family.
The U.S. Tennis Association said it will grant Wozniacki a wild-card invitation to participate in the U.S. Open, which begins in New York on Aug. 28. She also is receiving a wild-card entry for a tournament in Montreal that begins earlier in August, she intends to play in the Australian Open next January and hopes to represent Denmark at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Another aim: She wants to show women that it is possible to combine motherhood with a career.
Wozniacki, who turns 33 in July, has not played an official match since losing to Ons Jabeur in the third round of the Australian Open in January 2020. Wozniacki revealed a month earlier that her appearance at Melbourne Park would be the last of her career.
She and her husband, former NBA player David Lee, have a 2-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old son.
“Over these past three years away from the game I got to make up for lost time with my family, I became a mother and now have two beautiful children I am so grateful for. But I still have goals I want to accomplish. I want to show my kids that you can pursue your dreams no matter your age or role,” Wozniacki wrote Thursday on Twitter. “We decided as a family it’s time. I’m coming back to play and I can’t wait!”
She was No. 1 in the WTA rankings for a total of 71 weeks — first reaching that spot in 2010 — and earned 30 titles, including the first in Grand Slam singles for a player from Denmark when she triumphed in Australia about 5 1/2 years ago.
Wozniacki twice was the runner-up at the U.S. Open and reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows three other times.
She announced in October 2018 that she has rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition that can cause pain and swelling in the wrist and other joints.
“Am I nervous? Not really. I’m coming back to something I love. Yes, I’ll be nervous before a match; I’m OK with that. I’m great with that. Can I win the U.S. Open? I think so. Can I win the Australian Open? I think so,” Wozniacki wrote in a piece for Vogue magazine posted Thursday. “That’s why I’m doing this. And I guess we’ll see what happens.”