Australian Open: Caroline Wozniacki’s smile hides off-court scars

Caroline Wozniacki won the Australian Open on her fitness — and the backhand.

Caroline Wozniacki wins the Australian Open, beating Simona Halep in the final. Picture: Michael Klein

Caroline Wozniacki leaned into her backhands as if she was preparing for the delicate task of threading a needle. The two-hander was her killer shot against Simona Halep. When she appeared on the verge of cracking like a porcelain doll in the third set, it was the rock-solid backhand that clinched the defining penultimate point, got her onto the ­podium, earned her a night with Daphne and allowed her to get all dolled up for yesterday’s traditional champion’s photo shoot at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

And there she was on a gorgeous Melbourne morning with the prom-queen appearance, the beautiful flashing smile and the bursting gratitude that when she takes her last breath she won’t be saying, “But I never won a major!” Yet there are things that cannot be seen in this photograph: the bumps and ­bruises carried by a young woman who’s been through her share of embarrassments and frustrations. For starters her ex-fiance, the golfer Rory McIlroy, ditched her in a three-minute telephone call she thought was a joke until he deadpanned that he was serious. Their relationship had been high-­profile and seemingly sprinkled with stardust. She had sent out the wedding invitations. She had embraced the media and celebrity status, only for McIlroy to give her a buzz and tell her the whole thing was off. The ending humiliated her. Scarred her. And yet she ­soldiered on.

The Wozniacki whose bling at the presentation ceremony was worth nearly as much as the $4 million winner’s cheque — the diamond-encrusted watch and the diamond-encrusted engagement ring she slipped on after beating Simona Halep — was a very different Wozniacki to the one who first joined the tour in 2005. She’s more guarded now, drastically so. She started her ­career as a lighthearted, light-headed, joke-cracking, stunt-pulling young lady without a care in the world. She was nicknamed Sunshine until it was no longer appropriate. Her first stint as world No 1 had the women’s tour likened to a sorority party. That’s no longer appropriate. It’s on for young and old.

The scars? Her first 67-week reign as world No 1 failed to land her a major title. She had an ­acrimonious bust-up with her father and coach, Piotr, before they reunited and agreed to disagree on a couple of things in the name of doing what they did together on Saturday night. There was the McIlroy saga. There was the serious ankle injury and diabolical results that sent her to the world No 74 ranking just 18 months ago. But now this. The real beauty of her Australian Open win was the grit beneath all the fresh-faced, white-toothed ­glamour. The fight.

“Daphne here is going home with me tonight,” Wozniacki smiled while clutching the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on Saturday night. They were still together with the rest of the loved-up couples in Melbourne on a Sunday morning. “I’ll be cuddling with her,” Wozniacki said. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she? Being here is something that is incredibly special to me. I’m just going to really soak in this moment. Try to enjoy it as long as I can. I’m going to bring her to the airport. Very few people can say they’ve been through all of this. It doesn’t come around very often. It’s a dream come true for me.”

Who’s the world No 1? A tough chick. “I was always told that there’s no chance that a girl from Denmark can become a world-class tennis player,” she once told Sports Illustrated after going starkers for a photo shoot on their cover. “We’ve never had any women in the top 30. Every time I would say, ‘I want to be No 1 in the world,’ people would just laugh at me. But I’ll find a way. I don’t take no for an answer.”

Wozniacki won the Australian Open on her fitness — and the backhand. It’s a technically perfect and dependable shot. She kept leaning forward and looking at the ball with great interest. She kept threading the needle. The second last point, she played the backhand of her life. It nearly went unnoticed because it set up a forehand winner. But that sharply angled crosscourt backhand was crucial. The last point was won when Halep’s own backhand found the tape. “That was a crazy point,” Wozniacki said of the penultimate rally. “I think we both played very well. I had that backhand crosscourt. I knew at that point I had to hit it hard. I had to just go for it crosscourt. It went a little shorter that what I had thought. That wasn’t what I was aiming for. I was like, wow. That’s a great shot. I’m going to take it.”

Recalling match point, she said: “She played very aggressively. She had a short second serve. I went in a played aggressive — I started off the point that way. Than she was playing aggressive and I was just trying to fight it off, playing deep. I hit a couple of framed shots. There’s a lot going through your mind at that point. You’re like, oh no. I had an opportunity. I should have hit it a little bit differently. When I saw that ball go into the net, it was crazy-emotional.”

She beat Halep 7-6 3-6 6-4 in two hours and 49 minutes of parry and thrust. Her father simply said, “Super.” The match time was only 37 minutes less than it took her to run the New York Marathon when she ticked it off her bucket list in 2014. She might give the impression that butter wouldn’t melt. It would. She’s an unashamedly bad loser. After a defeat, she talks to no one for days. “I think the most impressive thing I’ve done was to run the New York City Marathon in under 3½ hours, she said before the open. “Until mile 21, I was fine. This is easy, I’m going to run another one. But at mile 21, I completely hit the wall. I saw a milkshake place on the right and was like, “Can we just stop and have a milkshake?” And then my two pacers just started talking about milkshakes, and because they kept talking to me, it pushed me through that mile, mile and a half where I was struggling. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done physically in my life. I have the medal from the marathon at home. That’s the only trophy I have out in my house. My parents have all my tennis trophies. I just have that marathon medal.” Her boxing training gets physical. She stepped into the ring with a male professional, threw a flurry of punches, and he decked her. “I felt pretty badass, to be honest,” she said. Not a lot of people can say they’ve gotten punched in the face in the boxing ring.”

Wozniacki is engaged to ex-NBA championship-winning player David Lee. Asked if spending the night with Daphne meant Lee was on the couch, she grinned, “No.” Her fiancee and father were “out drinking” more than milkshakes while she as doing interviews. “They’re having a great time,” she grinned, saying she was unsure whether her replica Daphne would take pride of place with her marathon medal at home. The final against Halep had gruelling rallies, medical treatments, injury time-outs, suffocating tension, icepacks and exhaustion at both ends of the court. Not so, the tennis. What’s more difficult? Marathons or majors? “This was definitely emotionally harder,” she said at Melbourne Park. “It was such a tough grind. It was very hot. I think both of us were very tired in the end. We fought our hardest. It’s incredible. It could have gone either way. I was thinking if I’m tired right now, I know one of my strengths is my speed. Obviously my fitness. I know she’s tired, too. Every time I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t do this anymore, I’m too exhausted,’ we were playing these crazy-long rallies. I was looking over there and thinking she must be feeling the exact same way, or maybe more tired than me. Nobody knows how much work and dedication you’ve put into it. All I could tell myself was, ‘you’ve given it everything you have. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.’ I’m just very proud to be here with this trophy.”