The Best Thing to Pop-Up In Women’s Tennis For The Last 20 Years

It is indeed a big statement to say current world number 1 of the WTA circuit, Caroline Wozniacki, is the “best thing” that has happened in women’s tennis in the last 20 years, but as the article explains, the personality, game-style and many more factors (that) Wozniacki brings to the court, which is exactly what women’s tennis needs right now and has needed for a long, long time, is what makes her such a great player, and so vital to women’s professional tennis.

Consistency

What is being “consistent”, when it comes to tennis? Continuously making errors means you are being consistent – just at making errors. It seems so simple – keep the ball in the opposing court, again, and do it 10-30 more times in a rally, but the opposing player can hit a mix of slices, drop-shots, flat shots down-the-line, cross-court, etc, Wozniacki continuously keeps the ball in; she doesn’t go for broke in every-shot, it is this more subtle tactical choice, that even talented, multiple Grand-Slam players such as Serena Williams, Maria Sharapoa and Kim Clijsters, do not obey. She keeps huge pressure on her opponent; always forcing the opponent to need high concentration for every point by consistently keeping the ball in, it makes Wozniacki exceptionally difficult to defeat when she starts going for slightly more aggressive shots.

Women’s tennis has had Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safia and Jelena Jankovic as number ones in less than 2 years – the men’s side has had Federer and Nadal for the past 7 years, Wozniacki brings the consistency in the court and in the rankings that the women’s game has needed for a long time.

Fitness

Several of the players in the women’s game, despite being professional athletes, aren’t fit enough – some prime examples are the  images below of Kleyanova and Bartoli, who clearly do not look athletically “fit”. Just watching any professional tennis match, you can tell by an extended rally (10+ shots) which players are fit enough; in the men’s game nearly all players are fit enough, however in the women’s game it is a polar opposite; even Serena Williams, a brilliant tennis player, has a huge weakness in being moved side to side as she is not quick enough to recover.

Wozniacki is the polar opposite; by choosing to play consistent tennis, without going for too many winners, she accepts that she will have to get into long rallies, so keeping fitness at a high level is essential, it is the determination and motivation to be consistently fit, that players such as Safina, Bartoli, Cibulkova, Clijsters (some credit is due to Clijsters as she was pregnant in the last couple years), Serena Williams, just cannot seem to adopt, she makes players like Bartoli and Williams look fat – which seems such a big insult as they are professional tennis players, but do they have the determination and motivation required to keep as fit as Wozniacki? No, and it’s a shame as this shows it is not only Wozniacki’s current generation who aren’t fit enough, it is the previous generation too.

Her attitude

Wozniacki’s attitude is arguably the best thing to have happened to women’s tennis for a long, long time. As she is number 1 in the rankings – many young girls wanting to play tennis in the future will look to her personality as one to follow, and Wozniacki displays a relatively modest, angry-free, happy personality that isn’t evident in players such as Sharapova, who shows a lot more anger and stubborness when doing interviews and playing.

Wozniacki’s attitude to tennis – the opposite of ball-bashing, is to construct points carefully, focus on giving a good serve (when other professionals such as Dementieva, cannot even serve properly) and making her opponent constantly go for “one more shot” may not work when a player is hot on a streak or she faces a player such as Clijsters or Serena Williams; but the rankings show she is above them and has done more successfully in calendar than any potential player who can defeat her.

Wozniacki is essentially what women’s tennis is not – professional, interesting and intelligent. Professional in her interviews and respect for the media, interesting for seeing how she tactically beats every kind of opponent thrown at her and intelligent at not ball-bashing, screaming during every point and avoiding errors, which increases the rapport we have with her as we are treated to watching her do her job as opposed to watching her react after making error after error (explaining why players such as Sharapova aren’t fan favourites by any means).