caroline-wozniacki-letter-to-my-younger-self-2016-8
The Players' Tribune
Dear 11-year-old Caroline,
Let me just start off by saying, Dad was right.
He just was. Point blank. And now, finally, you realize it.
Ever since you were three, you spent hours and hours playing sports other than tennis — first it was gymnastics, then swimming, then handball and then … soccer. You were absolutely convinced that you were going to be a soccer player when you grew up. But there weren’t many girls teams in Denmark back then, and Dad didn’t like you having to play on the boys teams all the time. He wanted you to be able to build friendships with other girls. So he steered you toward tennis.
You weren’t sure about his plan for a while — you had to learn the game together when he started teaching you at age seven, and at some points it felt like neither of you really knew what you were doing — but look at you now. You just won the Danish junior championship for girls under 12. And you didn’t lose a single game in the tournament. You won all the matches 6–0, 6–0. You’re … good. And you know it.
After the final, the TV reporters asked you what your goals were for the future. You paused for a second, looked into the camera and said, “I want to be the best in the world.”
rest of article
The Players' Tribune
Dear 11-year-old Caroline,
Let me just start off by saying, Dad was right.
He just was. Point blank. And now, finally, you realize it.
Ever since you were three, you spent hours and hours playing sports other than tennis — first it was gymnastics, then swimming, then handball and then … soccer. You were absolutely convinced that you were going to be a soccer player when you grew up. But there weren’t many girls teams in Denmark back then, and Dad didn’t like you having to play on the boys teams all the time. He wanted you to be able to build friendships with other girls. So he steered you toward tennis.
You weren’t sure about his plan for a while — you had to learn the game together when he started teaching you at age seven, and at some points it felt like neither of you really knew what you were doing — but look at you now. You just won the Danish junior championship for girls under 12. And you didn’t lose a single game in the tournament. You won all the matches 6–0, 6–0. You’re … good. And you know it.
After the final, the TV reporters asked you what your goals were for the future. You paused for a second, looked into the camera and said, “I want to be the best in the world.”
rest of article