By Bob Phillips
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| Caroline Wozniacki, who won four consecutive championships in New Haven, will be retiring from tennis after the 2020 Australian Open. (Photo by Bill Harper) |
NEW HAVEN—Caroline Wozniacki, who came to fame in Connecticut when she won four straight Connecticut Open tournament singles titles early in her career, announced she will retire from the sport after the 2020 Australian Open. The 29-year-old beauty is currently ranked No. 37 in the world and has won 30 career singles titles since turning pro in 2005.
Wozniacki, who burst on the scene when she won her first Connecticut Open title in 2008 as a relatively unknown player (in these parts, certainly), went on to join the pantheon occupied by only one other player—Venus Williams—when she proceeded to win the tournament in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Wozniacki, who appeared in ESPN Magazine’s “Body Issue” in 2017, charmed Connecticut fans with her effervescent personality and model-esque looks to earn her nickname “Princess Caroline.”
In 2010, she made headlines when the Yale football team showed up to cheer her on in what was then known as the Pilot Pen tournament.
Her success,
of course, reached far past the Connecticut Tennis. In 2018, Wozniacki won her
first and only Grand Slam singles title—at the Australian Open over top-seeded
Simona Halep, another Connecticut Open veteran. The Great Dane was a runner-up
at the U.S. Open in 2009 and runner-up at the WTA Tour Championships in 2010.
She held on to the No. 1 world ranking for an amazing 71-week run in 2010-11.Wozniacki, who’s most recent match was a loss to Naomi Osaka at the China Open, said her retirement had nothing to do with her health. On a recent appearance on Good Morning America, she said she was “ready to move on to the next chapter” of her life. She made her announcement via social media. To read her entire statement on Twitter, click HERE.
“It’s obviously a
decision I’ve thought about for a long time,” she said on GMA, ABC’s popular morning
news and entertainment show that also launched the television career of former
New York Giants’ star Michael Strahan. “I just got married this year so that’s
exciting and ... there are so many other things I’d like to do off the court. I’ve
always thought when there are other things I’d want to do more it’s just time
to be done.
“It just felt
right in my heart,” she continued. “It’s never going to be an easy decision
when you’ve done this your whole life, but it just feels right. I’m ready for
it.”
Wozniacki
struggled throughout 2019. She did not win a singles title for the first time
in her career as she battled a series of injuries and dropped out of the Top Five
in the world rankings. In late 2018, 10 months after winning her first slam
title, she announced a
diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
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| "Princess Caroline," who has been struggling with rheumatoid arthritis, will embark on the next phase of her life in 2020. (Photo by Bill Harper) |
“I don’t think it
is hindering me,” she told People
magazine. “It makes some things more challenging, but I feel great
in the day-to-day. I feel like I can do anything, and I’ve won some of my
biggest titles of my career with this illness.”
In her personal
life, Wozniacki might best known for her relationship to PGA star Rory McIlroy,
to whom she was engaged in 2013-14. The power couple never tied the knot,
however, and Wozniacki
married former NBA player David Lee, who enjoyed a productive 12-year run in the league,
this past June. The newlyweds recently moved to a condo on Fisher Island in
Miami, and one of the 28 tennis courts at the Palazzo Del Sol complex on Fisher
Island is named after Wozniacki.
In her social
media announcement, Wozniacki addressed the next stage of her life. She said
she wants to start a family while traveling and promoting awareness about
rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, she began studying at Harvard Business
School in September.
—with
staff reports
@carowozniacki @ESPN #Bodyissue #pilot pen #tennis #carolinewozniacki
#Wozniacki
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