Caroline Wozniacki and her father-coach Piotr have decided to allow adidas coach Sven Groeneveld more responsibilities. "Piotr wants me to take over more. I'm to take more responsibility for how we can improve," Groeneveld told Ekstra Bladet.
After working with the adidas team for about three years, the Wozniackis decided to bring in a private coach, Ricardo Sanchez, during the off-season, but that lasted only two months. Adidas coaches are available to any player who wears the brand, but Groeneveld works with Wozniacki more than most other players.
The 21-year-old Dane lost her No. 1 ranking to Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open and has fallen to No. 6. She hasn’t won a tournament since New Haven last August, but it in final of Copenhagen, where she will face Angelique Kerber.
"We're focusing now on her development rather than No. 1," Groeneveld said. "She's been at the top during her development. You progress, hit a certain level, and you want to progress some more. Her ranking has no effect. It's about how she herself feels and how she focuses on tournaments and Grand Slams . . . Caroline is 21 and has reached maybe 70% of her potential. There's lots of room for improvement. I'd like to see her step in a bit more on her opponents serve, and follow up more on the short balls. The more she does it and is conscious of it, the more confident she'll be. But she has to notice the opportunities that arise, or that she creates herself. She has to realize that she has a more powerful first serve now, and that she can put her opponent on the defensive and take time away from her. Technically she has to be more aware of where she is on the court."
On Wednesday, Caroline Wozniacki complained about being woken up at 6 AM by anti-doping authorities and told the newspaper: "One learns to live with it as it is. You must provide a residence and an hour of the day when you want to do it and I had given 9 o'clock to 10. So it was not super cool that they came at 6. I actually think it's just unacceptable. They could have waited three hours. But once you're up, it's just about peeing and then getting back back to bed."
Lone Hansen, director of the Anti Doping Denmark, responded: "We try, of course, as far as possible to meet athletes' requirements, and Caroline is always very cooperative, so I obviously regret that she was awakened three hours before she wanted. [But] when you reach the class Caroline is in, we will not announce our arrival."