In the early stages of her comeback, Caroline Wozniacki finds herself exactly where she wants to be.
“That's why I'm here. I want to compete,” said the former world No.1, after Monday’s 6-3 6-2 win over teenaged qualifier Tatiana Barkova.
“I want to play against the best players.”
Wozniacki gets her wish in the second round at the US Open when she lines up against long-time rival Petra Kvitova, a player just outside the top 10 at world No.11.
This will be the second left-handed Czech Wimbledon champion Wozniacki has played since returning to the tour in Montreal as a mother of two.
She lost in straight sets to Marketa Vondrousova in her second match back, and hopes it’s a different story in her fifth when she confronts Kvitova.
“I know exactly what I need to do. I know where my game needs to be at to beat Petra. There's definitely a calmness to knowing that,” said Wozniacki, who narrowly trails 6-8 in the pair’s head-to-head series.
“At the same time, I'm playing someone who obviously plays very well. Could I have had maybe a little bit of an easier draw? Probably. But at the same time, I'm also a wildcard. We could have met in the first round.
“I know myself, my competitiveness. I know if I'm playing my best tennis, then I believe that I can beat anyone in the draw.”
When announcing her comeback in an essay in Vogue, Wozniacki wrote: “Can I win the US Open? I think so.” And there is precedent for a once-retired mother, using a wildcard entry, to win the entire tournament at Flushing Meadows.
That was Kim Clijsters, who beat none other than Wozniacki in the 2009 US Open final to re-write the history books.
Just like Clijsters, Wozniacki prepared for her Grand Slam return with comeback tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati, and she will use Wednesday night’s match against Kvitova as a litmus test of her progress along her desired path back toward the top of the game.
This will be their 15th meeting, but interestingly, just their second at a Grand Slam tournament. The other was at Wimbledon in 2010.
Wozniacki won their last match, at the 2018 WTA Finals in Singapore. That was almost five years ago, and just 15 months later, she retired after a third-round loss to Ons Jabeur at Australian Open 2020.
Since then she has had two children, Olivia and James, and harboured no thoughts of a comeback until she found herself hitting again – and hitting well – and the urge to return grew stronger.
Wozniacki has always been athletically gifted and supremely fit; this is someone who ran a sub-three-and-a-half-hour marathon in New York, a week into her off-season.
It was a reputation she reinforced by debuting a blue lycra onesie for her first-round win under lights on Monday.
“It's the US Open. Why not? I think that's my motto at the moment. At this point we may as well make a statement. I think that's where I'm at,” she said of the bold outfit choice.
“Because I didn't let many people know (about my comeback) for a long time, it was kind of a last-minute (decision)... All right, let's go for it, let's try this one. I think it's cool.”
The recurring refrain around Wozniacki’s return has been: “It looks like she’s never left”. Indeed, she was reliably consistent against Barkova, committing half the number of unforced errors and winning in a tidy 90 minutes.
It was as impressively solid as her first match back in Montreal, where she dropped just four games against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
Having scaled the heights of the sport, most notably with her victory at Australian Open 2018, Wozniacki is understandably demanding of herself, and recognises she will need to find something extra against Kvitova.
Kvitova, for all of her success at Wimbledon, has reached the second week just as often at Flushing Meadows, and has recently been more potent in in New York than in London.
“What I can do better? Everything a little bit better,” Wozniacki said.
“Just thrilled to be through and get another match, hopefully on a big court.
“We've had some tough battles. There's a couple that stand out. One that I lost bad to her at Wimbledon where I think she won the tournament, but she was on fire. One that stands out is Beijing. I beat her to get my No.1 ranking, which was very special.
“Some back and forths, for sure. Again, it could be anything in the next round, but I'm so excited to play her.”