I know I'm a great player: Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki is happy in herself despite facing pressure on and off court, writes Neil Harman

Caroline Wozniacki says when she doesn't have a love for the game she will quit

Caroline Wozniacki is happy in herself despite facing pressure on and off court, writes Neil Harman

SHE had been throwing up all morning, so finding Caroline Wozniacki so upbeat was a credit to the strength of character she has shown since she was first interviewed by the Danish press as a nine-year-old with a racket and a multitude of dreams.

As first alternate for the year-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, the rules state that she has to show up for every match just in case someone goes lame, and that has played with her good humour, too.

For the 23-year-old, 2013 has been a year of one title, last week's Luxembourg Open, and several bumps on the road, the latest being more unsubstantiated rumours about her relationship with Rory McIlroy, which is as strong as it ever was.

Whatever frustrations she may feel - "This time I was more upset than he was," she said - Wozniacki masks with the single-minded desire to improve her standing in tennis, which ends, for a fifth year in succession, inside the top ten on the WTA Tour.

To that end, an announcement is expected soon on the appointment of a new coach to steer her career forward as Piotr, her father and constant devoted presence, takes more of a back seat.

"Dad will travel whenever I want him to be there, but he wants to back out slowly, he's got a little tired," she says. "He's done so much for me. And it is important that we bring in someone who doesn't want to change my game or me, because that's always there. The base of my game will always be the same because I've played like this for-ever and it's worked for me. You need to add to the base and keep building on it."

Next year will be Wozniacki's ninth on tour and, for 49 weeks from late 2010, she was the No 1 player in the world, even though a grand-slam tournament title did, and still does, elude her. "It's important to remember why you played tennis in the first place because so many other things happen," she says. "As soon as I don't have the love for the game is when I'll stop, because it won't make sense to me any more. I don't know for how long, but for now I want to keep going.

"I finished No1 two years in a row and I've been in the top ten five years in a row, and even if I've not had the best year, to finish where I have is a great accomplishment. I know what people have said about me, but I don't take any notice. I took a picture of a note in the locker room in Tokyo last month, which said, 'You can't let criticism or praise get to you, it's a weakness to get caught up in either one of them.' It's so true. I know what I'm doing and that is most important to me."

When I interviewed Wozniacki and McIlroy in Eastbourne in June, it was clear that she was the alpha personality. "I take things on straightaway," she adds. "I'm not a say-er, I'm a do-er, and I can get a crazy thought in my head and sometimes I'll do it anyway.

"I would rather do something. I would feel much worse regretting something I didn't do than something I did. If I need to do something with my game or something that needs sorting, why push it away? Small things become big things all of a sudden. I'm so excited about next year, I feel I have a lot more experience as a person and player and I know I'm at ease. I know I'm a great player and there will be tough parts of the season, but if you work hard it will pay off.

"I feel I can beat anyone if I play my game well. This off season will be very important. I shall work hard on some technical things and going into next year, I will be ready."

Her ease comes from knowing that, whatever anyone else may say or write, her personal relationships are strong and resilient. When the last tranche of articles suggesting that she and McIlroy had split were published in Ireland two weeks ago, her Twitter account went barmy. "I change my profile picture once and that makes a story, then I change it again and that makes a story too," she says.

"They say that having a picture of Rory and me together means that I'm clinging on to him. Don't people feel embarrassed to write these things?

"As a professional athlete, I know how to separate everything. When I'm on the court, that's what I think of, nothing else. That is my focus, my passion, my job and my career and nothing else matters at that point.

"I just wish people would leave us alone and we have decided that everything from now on stays between Rory and I and it is private, because people make stories either way, if we give a comment or not. We know we're together and nothing is wrong, that's the most important thing."

The Times