NEW HAVEN, Connnecticut—On Tuesday evening, 19-year-old Caroline Wozniacki defeated Edina Gallovits at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament, handing her a double bagel (6-0, 6-0). And Wozniacki didn’t waste any time. She finished the match in just 43 minutes.
“I’ve been working hard,” says Caroline. “The last three tournaments I played, I’ve had some really tough matches, but I just needed the consistency that I’ve had earlier in the year, and I’m so happy that I could keep my level up for the whole match.”
It was just one year ago that the current world No. 8 burst onto the tennis scene, capturing her first ever Sony Ericsson WTA tour title in New Haven. Since then, she has earned five WTA career titles, and could potentially win her 6th by the end of this week.
Despite all the hard work, Caroline has admitted to being bored with her off-court training routine. Just after Wimbledon, a professional boxing friend (Michael Kessler), suggested that she give boxing a try. She took a chance, hired a boxing coach, and started swinging.
That decision has proven to be a good one. Caroline says that boxing has helped her to become a better tennis player. “It’s not only the boxing training,” she says. “You do at least 40 min. on the treadmill before, and you run a lot, and strengthen your stomach, your back, your shoulders, your arms…all the things that you also need in tennis.”
Caroline stresses that she’s “not the hitting kind of person” and laughed when someone asked if she tries to picture a particular player when she boxes. “It’s fun to get some aggression out sometimes,” she says, “but I prefer hitting the balls.”
Paula Vergara is an experienced tennis journalist, who has worked as a regular contributor to On the Baseline Tennis News, USTA New England Magazine, and New England Sports Magazine. To view her work, visit her blog at www.paula-vergara.blogspot.com.
I think it’ll be interesting to see how boxing continues to help Caroline’s game. I would imagine this would significantly sharpen her reflexes, especially regarding her net game.
[...] more information about Caroline Wozniacki, read this recent article from August 2009 where we talked to Caroline about [...]
The biggest value a tennis player gains from boxing is the footwork, because it is all about making micro-adjustments to be perfectly positioned relative to the opponent (or ball) and then planting down for explosive execution of the punch (or stroke) using the entire body.
– Paul G, tennis coach and karate black belt