[Reality-TV-Fanatics] Caroline Wozniacki wins Australian Open to end wait for first grand slam after edging epic against Simona Halep

 

  Not a favorite but good for her

Simon Briggs

The TelegraphJan 27, 2018 9:45 AM

Caroline Wozniacki is a woman of many parts - part-time actress, magazine cover girl and marathon runner among them. Now, after more than a decade of dedicated striving, she is a grand slam champion too.

It is hardly unusual for a major winner to fall on their back and weep after clinching a match point. These fortnights bulge with intensity, after all. But Wozniacki's emotions were particularly raw, because of the long and winding road that has carried her to this point, and the number of naysayers she has proved wrong.

"That's one of the most positive things about all of this," said Wozniacki, after her 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Simona Halep. "I'm never going to get that question – 'when are you going to win a slam?' – ever again. Now I'm just waiting for the question, 'When are you going to win the second one?'

"It was such a tough grind," Wozniacki added. "It was very hot out there. I think both of us were very tired in the end. At the same time we fought our hardest, and I'm very proud to be here with the trophy."

At this point, Wozniacki turned to the gigantic silver tureen that is the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, and said, "Daphne here is going home with me tonight. I'll be cuddling with her."

At the post-match ceremony, Wozniacki reserved her warmest thanks for her father Piotr – the only coach she has ever really trusted – and her fiancé David Lee. As a former NBA basketball star, Lee has become an advisor as well as an emotional support, and she credited him for calming her down before the match.

Presented with an opportunity to rid herself of the "slamless wonder" tag that has dogged her for so many years, you might have expected Wozniacki to start full of anxiety. But instead she came out hitting winners off her weaker forehand side: three of them in as many games. Her footwork was precise and her head clear.

"I was nervous this morning," said Wozniacki. "I was coming here probably three hours before the match and thinking 'Okay, five hours from now, we'll have a winner.' I was like, 'Okay, let's get the warm-up going, get a sweat going'. That kind of helped. Once I was out on court, I felt surprisingly very calm. I went out there and just went for it. I wasn't nervous in the first set. I think I got more nervous in the third set, but I was too tired to really think too much about it."

Halep was soon visibly struggling with the physicality of the contest, going so far as to call the doctor to check her blood pressure in the middle of the second set. She confessed afterwards that she had been dizzy and headachey, as well as restricted by the "dead" feet that took such a pounding in the course of 14 hours of matchplay here.

The conditions in Melbourne were brutally airless and humid, even at 9pm, and play had to be suspended for 10 minutes before the final set in accordance with the WTA's heat rule. Despite these challenges, however, Halep kept the contest so tight that she won only two fewer points than Wozniacki – 108 to 110.

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