Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a former Danish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA, holding the position for a total of 71 weeks (including as the year-end world No. 1 in 2010 and 2011). Wozniacki has won 30 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 2018 Australian Open as well as the 2017 WTA Finals.

Wozniacki had a successful junior career, winning the junior title at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships. After being named the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2008, she contested two major finals at the 2009 and 2014 US Opens, as well as the final at the 2010 WTA Tour Championships, becoming the world No. 1 in 2010. Wozniacki retired from the sport following the 2020 Australian Open. In 2022, she became a commentator for Tennis Channel and ESPN, before beginning a professional comeback at the 2023 Canadian Open and the US Open. She is known for her footwork and defensive skill. In November 2025, Wozniacki indicated that she was likely finished with professional tennis following her comeback.

Early life

Wozniacki was born in Odense, Denmark. She is of Polish descent. Her mother Anna played on the Polish women's national volleyball team, and her father Piotr played professional football. The couple moved to Denmark when Piotr signed for the Danish football club B1909. Her older brother, Patrik Wozniacki, is a former professional footballer in Denmark.

Wozniacki won several junior tournaments in 2005, including the Orange Bowl. She made her debut on the WTA Tour at Cincinnati's Western & Southern Open on 19 July 2005, losing to the top-seeded and eventual champion Patty Schnyder in the first round. In the Nordic Light Open, her other WTA tournament of the year, she lost to Martina Suchá in the first round.

thumb|left|Wozniacki during the [[2006 Wimbledon Championships – Girls' singles|2006 Wimbledon girls' singles final]]

In 2006, she was the top seed at the Australian Open (junior girls' singles), but lost the final to eighth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She was seeded second with partner Anna Tatishvili in the doubles tournament, but the pair was knocked out in the semifinals by the French-Italian pair of Alizé Cornet and Corinna Dentoni, who were seeded eighth. In February at the Memphis, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, beating Kristina Brandi and Ashley Harkleroad before losing to third-seeded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden. Before Wimbledon Wozniacki won the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, an exhibition tournament, beating Ashley Harkleroad in the final. Later that year she was given a wild card to the qualifying draw at Wimbledon, where she was beaten in the first round by Miho Saeki. However, Wozniacki went on to win the Wimbledon girls' singles title, beating Magdaléna Rybáriková in the final. In August, she reached another WTA Tour quarterfinal, this time at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. She defeated top-100 players Iveta Benešová and Eleni Daniilidou, then lost to eventual champion and third-seeded Zheng Jie.

Wozniacki was seeded second in the US Open girls' singles. In the first round, she won the first set against Russian Alexandra Panova, but was disqualified in the second set for verbally abusing an umpire. Wozniacki was said to have used an expletive in referring to a linesman who made a disputed call. However, on her blog, she claimed to have said "take your sunglasses of [sic]" and was mistaken for talking to the linesman, when she in fact was criticizing herself after the next point.

In her last junior tournament, the Osaka Mayor's Cup, she won both the girls' singles and doubles. Her first title on the senior tour came in October when she won a $25k tournament in Istanbul by beating Tatjana Malek in the final. Wozniacki was set to face Venus Williams on 27 November in an exhibition match in Copenhagen, but five days before the event, Williams cancelled because of an injury. The two did, however, face each other in the Memphis WTA Tier III event on 20 February. Williams beat Wozniacki, ending a nine-match winning streak for Wozniacki. On 29 November Wozniacki was named ambassador for Danish Junior Tennis by the Culture Minister of Denmark at the time, Brian Mikkelsen.

On 4 February 2007, she won a $75k singles title in Ortisei, beating Italian Alberta Brianti. On 4 March, she won the $75k tournament in Las Vegas, beating top-seed Akiko Morigami in the final. She obtained a wild card for the Indian Wells Open main draw and made her Tier I debut there. She was knocked out in the second round by Martina Hingis. She then made the semifinals of the Japan Open in Tokyo in October, her first career WTA Tour semifinal. She became the first Danish woman to reach a WTA semifinal since Tine Scheuer-Larsen at Bregenz in 1986 but was defeated by Venus Williams, in straight sets.

Professional

2008: First WTA Tour title

At the Australian Open, Wozniacki defeated Gisela Dulko and 21st seed Alona Bondarenko on her way to the round of 16, where she lost to the eventual finalist and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic. At the French Open, Wozniacki was seeded 30th, making this the first Grand Slam tournament in which she was seeded. She again lost in the third round to the eventual champion and world No. 2, Ana Ivanovic. At Wimbledon, she reached the third round, but lost to second-seeded Jelena Janković.

thumb|right|Wozniacki during the [[2008 US Open (tennis)|2008 US Open]]

Wozniacki won her first WTA Tour title at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm without dropping a set, defeating fifth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals, top seed and world No. 10 Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals, and Vera Dushevina in the final. At the Summer Olympics in Beijing she beat world No. 12, Daniela Hantuchová, in the second round, but then lost to the eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva. Wozniacki won her second WTA Tour title at the New Haven Open, after defeating three seeded players, Dominika Cibulková, Marion Bartoli and Alizé Cornet, en route to the final, where she stunned world No. 11, Anna Chakvetadze.

Wozniacki was the 21st seed at the US Open. She defeated world No. 14, Victoria Azarenka, in the third round, but lost to second-seeded and eventual runner-up Jelena Janković in the fourth round. At the China Open, she lost her opening match to Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues. However, she teamed up with Medina Garrigues to clinch the doubles title, defeating the Chinese duo of Han Xinyun and Xu Yifan. It was Wozniacki's first WTA doubles title. At the Tier III Japan Open, she was the top seed for the first time on the WTA Tour, and won her third career title, defeating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final. Wozniacki then took part in the Danish Open, in her hometown of Odense. After a string of good performances, she won the tournament, beating world No. 64, Sofia Arvidsson, in the final.

Wozniacki's final win–loss record for the year (ITF matches included, exhibition matches not included) was 58–20 in singles and 8–9 in doubles. She ended the year ranked 12th in singles and 79th in doubles. She finished 13th in the race for the WTA Finals. She won the Newcomer of the Year award for 2008.

2009: First major final and top-5 ranking

Wozniacki started the season in Auckland, where she lost to Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. She also reached the quarterfinals in Sydney, this time losing to world No. 2, Serena Williams, after having three match points. Seeded 11th at the Australian Open, Wozniacki lost in the third round to Australian Jelena Dokic.

In Pattaya, she lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the quarterfinals. Seeded number one at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Wozniacki advanced to the final, but lost to Victoria Azarenka, after they partnered in the doubles final to defeat Michaëlla Krajicek and Yuliana Fedak.

Wozniacki then took part in the first two Premier Mandatory tournaments of the year. At Indian Wells, she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva. In Miami, she scored her first win over Elena Dementieva, then lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

thumb|upright|left|Wozniacki reached her first Grand Slam final at the [[2009 US Open (tennis)|2009 US Open]]

Wozniacki won her first title of the year at the Amelia Island Championships on green clay in Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. In Charleston, she defeated top seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals, then lost the final to Sabine Lisicki.

Wozniacki suffered early exits in her next two tournaments, losing to Marion Bartoli in the second round in Stuttgart, and to Victoria Azarenka in the third round in Rome. She reached the final of the inaugural Premier Mandatory Madrid Open but she lost to world No. 1, Dinara Safina. This was Wozniacki's only match against a reigning No. 1 before she became world No. 1 in October 2010. Seeded tenth at the French Open, she lost to Sorana Cîrstea in the third round. They partnered in doubles, but lost in the first round.

Wozniacki won her second 2009 title on the grass of Eastbourne. In the final, she defeated Virginie Razzano. Seeded ninth at Wimbledon, she lost to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.

On her 19th birthday, she lost the final of the Swedish Open to María José Martínez Sánchez. On hardcourt at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea. At the Cincinnati Open, she reached the quarterfinals, then lost to Elena Dementieva. In Toronto, she lost early in the second round to Zheng Jie, but she then went on to defend her title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven without losing a set. In the first round, she had her first double bagel win as a professional, 6–0, 6–0, over Edina Gallovits in 41 minutes. In the final, she beat Elena Vesnina for her third title of the season.

Wozniacki was the ninth seed at the US Open where she made her best result to date by becoming the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam championship final. Her route to the final included a hard-fought three-set win against reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, then scored straight sets wins against Melanie Oudin in the quarterfinals and Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals. In the final, she was defeated by Kim Clijsters.

In the second round of the Pan Pacific Open, she retired because of a viral illness down 0–5 against Aleksandra Wozniak. She then lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round of the China Open, and to Samantha Stosur in the semifinals in Osaka. The following week in Luxembourg, she retired with a hamstring injury in the first round while leading 7–5, 5–0 over Anne Kremer. This aroused controversy because of the scoreline.

Wozniacki's stellar 2009 results qualified her for the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Doha for the first time. She won two of three group matches and advanced to the semifinals. There she struggled with a stomach strain and a left thigh injury against world No. 1 Serena Williams, and retired while trailing 6–4, 0–1.

2010: First Premier Mandatory title and world No. 1

thumb|right|Wozniacki serving at the [[2010 Australian Open]]

In her first WTA tournament of the year, Wozniacki suffered an opening-round loss to Li Na of China in the Sydney. She was seeded fourth at the Australian Open, her first top-eight seed in a Grand Slam. She again fell to Li, this time in the fourth round, in straight sets. Despite her fourth-round exit, Wozniacki achieved a career-high ranking of No. 3.

As the second seed at Indian Wells, Wozniacki reached the final, then lost to former world No. 1, Jelena Janković. With this result, she achieved a new career-high ranking of world No. 2. At the Miami Open, Wozniacki lost her quarterfinal match against the newly returned Justine Henin.

Her next tournament was in Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Olga Govortsova in the final. Wozniacki then competed at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. She advanced to the semifinals, where she met Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki was forced to retire down 2–5 when she rolled her ankle.

Despite her ongoing ankle injury, she continued to compete in tournaments through the clay-court season, suffering early losses in Stuttgart, Rome and Madrid. She then reached the quarterfinals in Warsaw, but retired after losing the first set.

Wozniacki was seeded third at the French Open. She posted her best result at Roland Garros by advancing to the fourth round without dropping a set. After defeating Flavia Pennetta in the round of 16 in three sets, she lost to eventual champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. Wozniacki partnered with Daniela Hantuchová in doubles, but they withdrew before their second round match against the Williams sisters because of a right shoulder injury to Hantuchová.

As the defending champion, Wozniacki lost early at the Eastbourne International, her first grass-court tournament of the year, to Aravane Rezaï. Wozniacki was seeded third at Wimbledon, where she defeated Tathiana Garbin, Chang Kai-chen, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the fourth round, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová.

Wozniacki was the first seed at the inaugural Danish Open. It was the first Danish WTA Tour tournament, created largely out of Wozniacki's popularity in Denmark. She defeated Klára Zakopalová to win her second title of the year.

In Cincinnati, she lost in the third round to Marion Bartoli. As the second seed in Montreal, Wozniacki was forced to wait two days to play her semifinal match with Svetlana Kuznetsova because of heavy rain. She defeated both Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva on the same day for her third singles title of the year. As the top seed in New Haven, Wozniacki defeated Nadia Petrova in the final for her third consecutive title there. By virtue of this, she also won the US Open Series.

Wozniacki was the top seed at the US Open due to the withdrawal of world No. 1, Serena Williams. She advanced to the semifinals, then lost to Vera Zvonareva. With her semifinal appearance, Wozniacki became one of only two women (the other being Venus Williams) to have reached at least the fourth round of all four Grand Slam events in 2010.

Her first tournament during the Asian hard-court season was the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She won back-to-back three-setters against Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, the latter of whom she beat in the final to win her fifth title of the year.

She then entered the China Open in Beijing. In the third round, Wozniacki faced Petra Kvitová, who had routed her at Wimbledon. Wozniacki avenged that loss, which ensured that she would replace Serena Williams as the new world No. 1 after the tournament. She was the fifth player to reach the No. 1 position without having won a Grand Slam tournament. She also became the first Danish player, man or woman, to reach the top ranking. Wozniacki ultimately won the tournament, defeating Zvonareva in the final to win her sixth title of the year and twelfth overall.

At the year-end WTA Championships in Doha, Wozniacki was drawn in a group with Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur and Elena Dementieva. She defeated Dementieva in her first round-robin game, but lost to Stosur in the second. She won her last round-robin match in the group against Schiavone, securing the year-end world No. 1 rank and a place in the semifinals against the winner of the other group, Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki defeated her, but then lost the final in three sets to Kim Clijsters. Wozniacki ended the season with six WTA Tour singles titles, the most on the tour. Clijsters won five, and no other player won more than two.

2011: Year-end No. 1 for the second year in a row

During the off season, Wozniacki switched her racquet make from Babolat to Yonex. She began her 2011 season with an exhibition match in Thailand against Kim Clijsters where she lost in a super tie-break. Wozniacki then played another exhibition, the team Hong Kong Tennis Classic, where she represented and was captain of Team Europe. She won two matches against Team Asia Pacific, then was crushed by world No. 2, Vera Zvonareva, in the final against Team Russia. Her first WTA tournament was the Sydney International. She received a bye into the second round, where she lost to Dominika Cibulková.

The Australian Open was Wozniacki's first major as world No. 1. She lost to Li Na in the semifinals, failing to convert a match point when trying to serve out the match at 5–4 in the second set.

Wozniacki dropped to No. 2 behind Clijsters during the week of 14 February, but regained the top spot the following week. She received a bye to the second round in Dubai where, in the quarterfinals, she beat Shahar Pe'er to ensure her No. 1 position in the next rankings update. She went on to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final to take her 13th career singles title and first of the year. In Doha, she received a bye to the second round and reached the final, defeating Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta and Marion Bartoli in straight sets. She lost to Vera Zvonareva in the final. In the first Premier Mandatory event of the year in Indian Wells, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated Marion Bartoli for her 14th singles title. At the Miami Open, she lost in the fourth round to 21st seed Andrea Petkovic. She made an uncharacteristic 52 unforced errors and later said she had been playing a lot of matches when she was asked about fatigue.

In the Family Circle Cup, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated unseeded Elena Vesnina to take her third title of the year, 15th of her career. In Stuttgart, she made it to her fifth final of the year, where she lost to Julia Görges in straight sets. In Madrid, Wozniacki lost to Görges again, this time in the third round. In Rome, she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova in the semifinal round. At the Brussels Open, Wozniacki reached the semifinals, where she defeated third seed and reigning French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone. In the final, Wozniacki's sixth of the year, she defeated eighth seed Peng Shuai to win her first red clay title, having won three titles on the faster green clay. Wozniacki was the top seed at the French Open, but was upset in the third round by 28th seed Daniela Hantuchová.

Wozniacki's next tournament was the Danish Open in her native country. In the final, she defeated fourth seed Lucie Šafářová, taking her fifth title of the year. At Wimbledon, she had straight-set wins until the fourth round, but then lost to 24th seed Dominika Cibulková.

At the Rogers Cup, Wozniacki made an early second-round exit. She was defeated by Roberta Vinci in straight sets despite holding a 5–1 lead in the second set. Wozniacki was the top seed at the Cincinnati Open, but lost in the second round to world No. 76, Christina McHale. Next playing at the New Haven Open, Wozniacki won the title for the fourth year in a row, defeating Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals and qualifier Petra Cetkovská in the final.

At the US Open, Wozniacki was the first seed. In the first round, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives. In the second round, Wozniacki defeated Arantxa Rus, and in the third round, defeated Vania King. In the fourth round, Wozniacki fought back from a 7–6, 4–1 deficit, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova. Wozniacki then progressed to the semifinals by defeating Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals. She lost her semifinal match to Serena Williams.

In Tokyo, Wozniacki lost to Kaia Kanepi in the third round. In Beijing, she lost to Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals. This was Wozniacki's only loss in the 12 quarterfinals she reached in 2011.

Wozniacki was the top seed at the WTA Championships. In the group stage, she upset Agnieszka Radwańska but then lost to Vera Zvonareva. She also lost to Petra Kvitová in her final round-robin match and so failed to advance to semifinals for the first time in three appearances. She finished the year as world No. 1 for the second consecutive year. Despite narrowly edging Petra for the year-end No. 1 ranking in points, she lost on all Player of Year awards to Petra.

2012: Beginning of singles decline

Wozniacki began her season by representing Denmark at the 2012 Hopman Cup with Frederik Nielsen as her partner. Wozniacki won two of her three round robin matches in singles, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Tsvetana Pironkova, then lost to world No. 2 Petra Kvitová. Her first WTA Tour event was the Sydney International where she defeated Dominika Cibulková when trailing 4–0 in the third set. She lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets in the quarterfinals, after serving for the match at 5–4 up in the second set.

Wozniacki competed at the Australian Open as the top seed. She defeated Anastasia Rodionova, Anna Tatishvili, Monica Niculescu and Jelena Janković, all in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals in which she lost to the defending champion Kim Clijsters. As a result, Wozniacki lost her top ranking and was replaced by the 2012 champion Victoria Azarenka. Next playing at Doha, Wozniacki lost to Lucie Šafářová in the second round, having received a first-round bye. Wozniacki was the defending champion in Dubai and Indian Wells, but failed to defend either title, losing to Julia Görges and Ana Ivanovic, respectively.

Wozniacki reached the semifinals in Miami, beating Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Petra Cetkovská, Yanina Wickmayer and Serena Williams, all in straight sets. Wozniacki then lost to 2nd seed Maria Sharapova. Wozniacki did not defend her title in Charleston as she was not allowed to participate under WTA rules because two top-6 players had already entered the draw. Wozniacki then played her home tournament in Copenhagen. She reached the final but lost to Angelique Kerber, her first loss at the tournament since the start in 2010.

She then played the French Open, where she lost to Kaia Kanepi in three sets in the third round. At the Wimbledon, she lost to Austrian Tamira Paszek in the first round. It was her first opening-round exit from any Grand Slam since making her professional debut at the 2007 French Open.

Wozniacki, still suffering with the injury, was seeded eighth at the US Open, but did not advance past the first round. She lost in two sets to 96th-ranked Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. As a result of the loss, Wozniacki dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in three years. Following her US Open disappointment, Wozniacki won her first tournament of the year in Seoul by defeating Arantxa Rus, Caroline Garcia, Klára Zakopalová, Ekaterina Makarova and Kaia Kanepi in the final. It was her 19th career title.

Her next tournament was the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She defeated Bojana Jovanovski, Daniela Hantuchová and Li Na, then lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals. At the China Open in Beijing, Wozniacki defeated Chanelle Scheepers and Hsieh Su-wei but lost to Angelique Kerber in the third round. Wozniacki's next tournament was the Kremlin Cup. As the third seed in the tournament, she defeated top seed Samantha Stosur in the final in three sets to take home her second title of the year, and 20th overall. At the year-end Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Wozniacki won her three group matches and reached the final but lost to Nadia Petrova. She ended the year ranked 10th.