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الأحد، 15 يناير 2012

The kind of anonymity that provides innocent experiences of when she would be excited to catch a fleeting peek of the top players of the day and when she "played on the last court on the left" in the juniors' competition at the age of 13.



Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark
She's tall. Blonde. Screeches like a banshee on the tennis court and is half of one of the most famous sporting couples in the world.

But on Saturday, Caroline Wozniacki looked back with a slight hint of regret at her lost anonymity.

The kind of anonymity that provides innocent experiences of when she would be excited to catch a fleeting peek of the top players of the day and when she "played on the last court on the left" in the juniors' competition at the age of 13.

"It's fun to think back," the world number one said after she had counted off on her fingers the number of times she had played at the year's first grand slam tournament. "I remember someone once confused me with Daniela Hantuchova.

"They thought I just finished up a mixed doubles. They were like, 'Daniela, can we have your autograph?'

"I said, 'I'm not Daniela'. They said, 'Yes, you are, we just saw you'. That was very funny.

"A lot of things have happened since then."

'A lot' includes 18 career titles, one grand slam final appearance at the U.S. Open in 2009, nearly $12 million in prize money, and no doubt countless more in commercial endorsements, and more than a year as world number one.

However, like previous world numbers ones in Russia's Dinara Safina and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, she has had the legitimacy of the ranking questioned because she has not won a grand slam title.



TRY TO WIN

"You know, I've been number one for a long time already," came the curt and highly polished reply that dispelled those memories of innocence so evident earlier and perhaps hinted at the pressure such a mantle bestows on players.

"Now my main focus is just to win as many tournaments as possible and the ranking will get there, will be there, if you play well."

That pressure, however, could abate a little by the end of the Australian Open, which starts on Monday.

Not if she wins, which would end the discussion once and for all, but also because her grasp on the top ranking could slip through her fingers.

Wozniacki will have to reach the fourth round to ensure she heads off world number two and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and the Dane was in defiant mood despite suffering a wrist injury at a build-up tournament in Sydney that had threatened her Australian Open participation.

"Obviously every time you go into a tournament, you want to try to win it," Wozniacki said, while adding she expected her wrist would be "100 percent" by Monday.

"Yeah, I want to try to win here. We'll see if that will happen. You need to play the best tennis to do that.

"I feel confident in my game and hopefully I can play well here.

"I know that if I play on my high level and if I play the way I want to play, it's really tough to beat me."

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