Premier Coach Advises Wozniacki to Play Fewer Tournaments

Written by: Staff on 28th December 2011

Premier Coach Advises Wozniacki to Play Fewer Tournaments |

Caroline Wozniacki reached the number one spot on the rankings by winning more matches than anyone else. For many that was still not enough, as none of those victories resulted in a major.

Now Sven Groeneveld, who works as a coach for adidas, has told her that less is more, and that to finally win a major she needs to reduce her schedule – the very thing that took her to the top of the tree. That might be a difficult call for her to make.

“I spoke with Caroline and her father about it in Istanbul during the WTA Championship,” Groeneveld told Danish newspaper Politiken. “I told them that they have to realize that Grand Slam tennis does not last a whole year, but two weeks and seven matches. The main objective is to win seven matches. It does not matter who your opponent is.

“It is about maintaining focus in two weeks during which you must keep your routines and work very specifically to the ultimate goal. But their focus was elsewhere, a different approach to Grand Slams. The bigger focus was being world number one, what they should do to maintain that position instead of creating the best conditions to win a Grand Slam.

“Caroline has shown how stable she can be, so the next step is to play fewer tournaments, maybe one or two, not much. Does she need to play Madrid, Rome and Brussels in a row right up to Roland Garros? And is it really necessary to play a hard-court tournament before Wimbledon? (she played Copenhagen in 2011, but that event has now moved to a new date in April). The key is to stay focused before and during a Grand Slam.”

Whether Caroline, her father or her new coach, Ricardo Sanchez, agree with Groeneveld’s assessment remains to be seen. Meanwhile, further criticism has come from Nick Bollettieri, but from a different angle.

“If she wants to win a Grand Slam, she should do anything other than what opponents expect of her,” he told Sporten.dk. “They have figured her out. It is not good enough to win a Grand Slam. She has a good foundation to play an elaborate game. She moves extremely well, (but) she can only win a Grand Slam if she disregards the thought that says that she can only get the ball back and be a steady player.”

Topics: Caroline Wozniacki