Wozniacki To Have A New Coach

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 25th October 2013

Annika Beck of Germany vs Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark

Wozniacki To Have A New Coach

epa03917155 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark celebrates with the trophy after she defeats Annika Beck of Germany after the women's final match at the BGL Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg, 20 October 2013. EPA/NICOLAS BOUVY |

Piotr Wozniacki has spent his last tournament as coach of his daughter Caroline and reports a big-name full time replacement will be named next week.

Until then the camp is staying tight-lipped although overwhelming speculation insists the favorite for the post is Thomas Hogstedt, the Swede who coached both Maria Sharapova and Li Na.

Wozniacki won her last tournament under her father’s exclusive guidance last week at the Luxembourg Open, the former world no.1 claiming her first title of 2013.

Now Mr. Wozniacki, who has named Ricardo Sanchez and Thomas Johansson as coaches before only to promptly return to the post, insists he is happy to be stepping down.

Wozniacki has spent the week at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, supposedly as an alternate, although she has been so stricken by a virus she has hardly felt well enough to play one game let alone several sets.

But she is looking forward, the new announcement, she maintains must stay under wraps until the beginning of December. “Dad will travel whenever I want him to be there, but he wants to back out slowly, he’s got a little tired,” she claimed.

“He’s done so much for me. And it is important that we bring in someone who doesn’t want to change my game or me, because that’s always there. The base of my game will always be the same because I’ve played like this for-ever and it’s worked for me. You need to add to the base and keep building on it.”

For the most part, 2013 is a year Wozniacki would preferably forget, and the 49 weeks she spent as no.1 on the WTA rankings, between late 2010 and 2011, now seem a distant memory.

She said: “I finished no.1 two years in a row and I’ve been in the top ten five years in a row, and even if I’ve not had the best year, to finish where I have is a great accomplishment. I know what people have said about me, but I don’t take any notice.

“I took a picture of a note in the locker room in Tokyo last month, which said, ‘You can’t let criticism or praise get to you, it’s a weakness to get caught up in either one of them.’ It’s so true. I know what I’m doing and that is most important to me.”

Most recently Wozniacki has grown upset over speculation, primarily in Irish newspapers, that her romance with champion golfer Rory McIlroy had hit the rocks.

She insisted: “I just wish people would leave us alone, and we have decided that everything from now on stays between Rory and I and it is private, because people make stories either way, if we give a comment or not. We know we’re together and nothing is wrong, that’s the most important thing.”

Topics: 10salls, Caroline Wozniacki, Li Na, Luxembourg Open, Maria Sharapova, piotr Wozniacki, Sports, TEB BNP Paribas, Tennis, Tennis News, Thomas Hogstedt, Wta