She finished No. 1, and she won six titles and a tour-best 63 matches overall. How disappointing could Caroline Wozniacki’s 2011 have been? In the end, it was a bummer because the pressure and the expectations were so high, and she failed to live up to them when it mattered most.
The biggest question in women’s tennis as the year began was whether the player whom the WTA computer said was the best in the world could finally win one of the four biggest tournaments in the world. Wozniacki looked like she might shut all of the doubters up right away at the Australian Open, where she held a match point on Li Na to advance to the final. But she lost that point and that match, she left the court in tears, and she never threatened at a Slam again.
At Roland Garros, Wozniacki was hit off the court by talented head case Daniela Hantuchova. At Wimbledon, the diminutive Dominika Cibulkova did the same. At the Open, Wozniacki at least reached the semis, but there she put up only tepid resistance in a straight-set loss to Serena Williams.
What may have made it all worse is that by the end of the season, it appeared that Wozniacki had been passed in the “future of women’s tennis” sweepstakes by fellow youngster Petra Kvitova, who already has a Wimbledon title. All Wozniacki is left with is the same pressure that comes with being the woman whom the computer says is the best in the world.
—Steve Tignor
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