Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki enters this year’s Australian Open as the second seed. It is the Dane’s highest seeding at a Grand Slam for six years, and she has been handed a kind draw to help enhance her chances of claiming her first Grand Slam singles title.
Wozniacki has been on a roll since reaching the semifinals of the US Open in 2016, and she clinched the biggest title of her career by defeating Venus Williams to win the WTA Finals in Singapore at the end of 2017.
The two-time Grand Slam runner-up was pleased with her resurgence in the last 18 months, and hopes to kick on at the Australian Open.
“I feel good, I think that I had a great last year, something I’m very proud of and I’m just happy to be here, playing pretty well and hopefully I could build on that.
The former world number one believes that she is a better now than she was when she was the world number one in 2010-12.
“I think so, yeah I think so, I think when you’re in the spotlight so much and when you are playing on the big courts and when everyone knows, obviously all the players know you and they want to beat you, you have a target on your back.
They try and find new ways to beat you, and you have to keep on improving to be ahead of them, so I think definitely, it’s much easier when you are a little unknown and people don’t know your game yet, and you can kind of just go under the radar but here you have to be a step ahead at all times.
Despite landing in the second half of the draw, where Wozniacki has a very good chance of reaching at least the quarterfinals, she is taking everything at one at a time.
“I never look at the draw and there’s always so many great players in the draw for me it’s just focusing on me and taking one match at a time, I only know my first round opponent and that’s how I like it, and that’s how I like to keep it and then we focus from there.
The 27-year-old lost to the in-form Julia Goerges in the final in Auckland but she is pleased with her start to the 2018 season.
“I was happy with the tournament in New Zealand, it was a good start for me, I played some good tennis, a lot of sets in one day at one point because we got rained out two days in a row, I’m not going to lie, first tournament backand two matches, I feel it I’m not 17 anymore, it was great just for the confidence and getting the rest of, a good start to the year.
Wozniacki begins her campaign against 29-year-old Mihaela Buzarnescu, who she defeated in the first round of the US Open last August.
“She’s not an easy player, she’s a tricky player, she’s been playing well, I think she’s in the final of Hobart this week, she’s a lefty, tries to mix up the pace a little bit, it’s not easy but I’m going to go out there and do my thing.”
The former world number one begins her Australian Open campaign on Monday inside the Margaret Court Arena, kicking off the night session at 7pm local time.
