By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Studying the Montreal court like road map, Caroline Wozniacki is pleased with the direction she’s driving.
Playing the second match of her comeback, Wozniacki reeled off four games in a row against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova before the left-handed Czech sealed a 6-2, 7-5 triumph.
Playing her second match in three-and-a-half years, Wozniacki said facing a Grand Slam champion was a good guage for where her game is now and where she needs to go ahead of her US Open return later this month.
“I think it’s good. I won my match yesterday. I played today against someone who just won Wimbledon,” Wozniacki said. “I feel like first set was 6-2, but I really think it was closer than that. There was a lot of missed opportunities from me.”
Today, Wozniacki struggled to defend her second serve. Wozniacki won just 10 of 31 second-serve points though she showed her familiar tenacity fending off 10 of the 15 break points she faced.
The former world No. 1 said her lack of match play was most evident when making split-second decision.
“I think it’s playing real matches. In those moments I’m used to having very few unforced errors, and I’m having a few more,” Wozniacki said. “It’s just something where it just takes a little time to just get back into that proper match rhythm.
“Again, I think there’s a lot of positives I can bring with me and then there’s some things that I can work on. And I think the more I play, the better it’s going to be for me.”
During her sabbatical from the Tour, Wozniacki gave birth to two children with husband David Lee and has spent time working as a tennis television analyst for Tennis Channel.
The former Australian Open champion said she views her Montreal return as an important first step forward on the comeback journey.
“As a competitor you always want to win obviously, but at the end of the day if I look at this tournament, I’m proud of myself. I’m happy that I got to play two matches,” Wozniacki said. “I’m happy that I kind of know where I stand, what I can do moving forward. I think it’s a great learning curve, and I’m happy that I know where I am, and I don’t feel like I’m that far away from where I want to be.
“It’s great to be here and learn a lot along the way.”
Photo credit: Omnium Banque Nationale Facebook
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