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Caroline Wozniacki Articles and Interviews

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Caroline Wozniacki: A great Dane
Part of article: http://www.tennishead.net/prozone/hot-stuff/2008-02-19/great-dane/

“I just saw it as an opportunity to show the world who I am, that I can play,” Wozniacki tells Tennishead casually, like taking the women’s tour by storm as a teenager is no big deal. “I had to start from the beginning again, and I really found that fun to just go out and think that every match I win is a big plus. If I lost a match it was fine, and if I won it was great, so step-by-step I came up the rankings.” As well as her refreshingly relaxed approach to playing tennis, she’s proved that she also has the weapons and mental toughness to rely on when the opportunities come along in big matches. “Senior players are more consistent and hit harder, but think a bit better than the juniors,” she explains. “They take the first opportunity that they have, not the second or third; if they have one chance they take it. I think mentally I’m pretty sharp. I don’t give up.”

That winning mentality is probably in her genes. With her dad, Piotr, a Pole who played pro football in Denmark, mum Anna who played volleyball for Poland and an older brother, Patrik, who’s an amateur footballer back home in Denmark she grew up in a pretty competitive environment, something that used to surface when she played soccer herself as a kid. “I’m really competitive so if I’m not better than the others I don’t want to play any more,” she says matter of factly. Her father has had a hand in her tennis since she began playing aged seven and her parents still travel on the tour, accompanied by recent addition to her entourage, Swedish coach Henrik Holm, a former top 20 player himself who is employed by the Danish tennis federation. Internet rumours in February suggested Jimmy Connors was being lined up to help with her game too. “I did all different kinds of sports [when I was younger]… I don’t think there’s a sport that I haven’t tried!” she admits. “And then suddenly I played tennis a little bit, and no one wanted to play with me because I was too bad.

“I just wanted to show the whole world that I wasn’t bad. I was playing against the wall for hours each day and I thought it was fun. And then one day my dad took me on the court and he wanted to practice with me and that’s how it started. And I got better than my parents, better than my brother, and I made some small goals and I achieved them and I wanted to become better and better.”

As well as improving her singles ranking, the teenager says she is determined to make sure she makes her Olympic debut in 2008 when the Games visit Beijing in August. “It’s a main goal for me because the Olympics is only every fourth year, and it’s a great achievement to go there and play and fight for some medals.”Success at the Olympics would guarantee her serious superstar status back home in Denmark. Even before her Australian Open exploits, the Danes were talking about her becoming their biggest sports star of all time – no mean feat in a football-obsessed country that has churned out greats such as Michael and Brian Laudrup, legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, as well as Tour de France cyclists Bjarne Riis and Michael Rasmussen.

Major sponsors haven’t been slow in recognising her appeal. The logos of Babolat, adidas, Danish financial services group Nordea, JBJ Group, Sony Ericsson and Danish travel insurance company Europæiske Rejseforsikring A/S adorn her personal website, she’s already appeared on talk shows back home and has shot two TV commercials for Sony Ericsson and Europæiske.

Is she bothered by the attention? Not a bit. “Everyone knows me in Denmark now. If I go outside the door everyone wants autographs and are talking, but I like it – it’s fun. It feels good.” Like any authentic sports superstar, she now lives in Monte Carlo, having moved to the, ahem, tax-free principality in January 2007. It’s obvious Denmark is still close to her heart, though, (“It’s beautiful, with nice people,” she says, but “a little bit too rainy”) and confesses that being the only Dane on the WTA tour gets lonely at times. “Sometimes it is, we have some guys that are playing, but no girls, and so it is hard because you want to compete with someone positively and you want to have someone to talk to as well… [I miss] some of my friends that are at home, and my brother who is there and playing soccer, and I miss the atmosphere.”
Maintaining contact with all things Denmark is helped by the fact that Caroline is still a student, dedicated to completing her schoolwork by mixing tennis with long distance learning. “It’s important to get an education in case something happens,” she explains. It’s a mature approach to life for a 17-year-old, but something tells us she won’t be needing her geography, history or algebra any time soon. Someone who knows a thing or two about being a teenage prodigy, Martina Hingis, feels the same – and expects big things. “Caroline is a strong up and coming player with a lot of potential,” she said last year. “She just needs to keep on going with what she’s doing. She’s going in the right direction. I think she is very talented and can go a long way.”

Tennishead says: Watch out for Wozniacki!
 
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#2,919 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

Caroline did nothing wrong. Any person in her position or Rory or Tiger Woods needs some security anyway. They make so much money.

Caroline is an international brand. So is Rory.
They have management teams that will figure out how to handle this phony BS. Its just using her name and Serena's name to get some online clicks, as marineblue said.
She did nothing wrong and this same imitation has been done many times before, so this will blow out in a few weeks.
 
#2,920 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I was stunned when I checked my Youtube account this morning to find out that the story even made it onto The Young Turks!



They instantly shoot it down of course, Cenk even uses the same blackface argument I used in GM :lol: But Jayar is a bit hesitant to give her a pardon..these guys are very level headed so I guess this really is offensive to some black people.

The only positive I see here is that it will mean she will probably never do this bit again. It has never been funny really, if she wants to mimic other players she should stick to mimicking their mannerisms (like Djokovic does with his Sharapova bit...that is funny and clever!), the whole thing was rather childish and a bit cringeworthy to begin with.
 
#2,925 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I don't recall a big controvery the last time Caro impersonated Serena or when Roddick and Dkjokovic impersonated Serena.

Oddly this didn't become a story until several days after the match.

There was even a story about it this morning on the Today show. :rolleyes: At least they mentioned it wasn't the 1st time she'd impersonated Serena and that Roddick and Djokovic have also impersonated Serena.

For the future I think Caro should drop her impersonations of Serena or other players for that matter as it'll probably attract more unwanted negative attention.
 
#2,927 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I'm used by now to the abuse that Woz gets at GM no matter what she does or says or doesn't do or say. But this is much more serious since it's a seemingly wordwide attempt at character assassination. Bloggers, newspapers and inevitably thousands upon thousands of internet crazies trying as hard as they can to put the racist label on her. Her facebook and twitter are a mess - full of the most vile comments imaginable.....And for what? I just hope that this crap doesn't ruin her reputation and I hope that it doesn't hurt her feelings too much either. This is a time when it's probably a good thing that she has Rory to comfort her. :hug:

.........Great!!! To have something like this on her mind is just what she needed a few weeks before the new season gets underway! :banghead:
 
#2,929 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I'm used by now to the abuse that Woz gets at GM no matter what she does or says or doesn't do or say. But this is much more serious since it's a seemingly wordwide attempt at character assassination. Bloggers, newspapers and inevitably thousands upon thousands of internet crazies trying as hard as they can to put the racist label on her. Her facebook and twitter are a mess - full of the most vile comments imaginable.....And for what? I just hope that this crap doesn't ruin her reputation and I hope that it doesn't hurt her feelings too much either. This is a time when it's probably a good thing that she has Rory to comfort her. :hug:

.........Great!!! To have something like this on her mind is just what she needed a few weeks before the new season gets underway! :banghead:
Agree! This is CRAZY!
And it's truly unbelievable how irresponsible the media has become! :eek:
 
#2,930 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

Its because one person, probably not a tennis fan, saw Caroline's exhibition and decided to label her. Then it just blew up, because Caroline & Serena are stars.
But its so unfair, and its not something she created, so I dont think its going to hang around more than another day or 2

It is making her a major celebrity, and when she shows up in Australia, I expect she'll have the biggest crowd for her 1st press conference.
But this one person put Caroline's name in a race controversy, and she has nothing to do with any controversy. Just a successful tennis player doing what she saw other players doing in exhibitions. And they had no controversy doing the same imitation.
 
#2,933 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I see that Caro & Serena havent tweeted about it.
So I think the strategy for right now is to let it blow off steam now. Not address it all now.

Most of the people involved in a race discussion have a strong bias, one side or the other. You cant reason with them, so let them ponificate. Eventually that hotheaded stuff ends.

Then in a few days, all the hotheads spewed their BS, and then it calms down.
Nothing happened. Caroline didnt do anything that wasnt done many times before. Didnt break any law, didnt mean any harm.

This will all cool out. Now its just social media BS.
 
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#2,935 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

No matter how Caroline's career turns out; she might win 5 majors, marry Rory and he wins 20 majors..
No matter how her career comes out, there will be paragraphs on her Wikipedia page about when she put 2 towels in her outfit during an exhibition and the internet exploded
 
#2,936 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

Serena Williams has a donk.

This information is about as Earth-shattering as water being wet or, for that matter, Williams being one of the best tennis players who has ever played.

Williams has a curvaceous body, and even though anyone can see that with a glance, it's causing consternation in the sports world.

That's because during an exhibition match in Brazil, fellow tennis player Caroline Wozniacki played to the crowd by doing an impersonation of Williams, her on-court rival.

Wozniacki padded her skirt and shirt to display the full, curvy Serena effect. A few folks in attendance laughed, including Roger Federer and Wozniacki's opponent, Maria Sharapova.

That was supposed to be the end of the joke. But it turned out to be the beginning of a discussion, and now questions are being raised about whether Wozniacki's impersonation was racist.

Caroline Wozniacki impersonates Serena Williams.
Hold on a minute. Racist?

It looked like a harmless joke and whether it crossed the line is an issue that only can be determined by Williams, depending on the nature of her relationship with Wozniacki. Reportedly, Williams and Wozniacki are friendly. Other tennis players have mimicked each other, including Novak Djokovic, whose impersonation of Sharapova is well known.

This shouldn't have touched a nerve, but it did, particularly among African-Americans.

I understand why it made some black people uncomfortable. For years, Williams' body has been scrutinized in a way that is drastically different from her professional female peers.

Unlike a lot of the other female tennis players, Williams is powerfully built. She's not a stick figure, and flaunts her voluptuous frame.

The media has, at times, been harsh, eyeing Williams' weight and proportions in a way that sometimes has made me uncomfortable.

Williams' physical assets aren't considered the norm, since on nearly every women's magazine cover (and not a few targeted at men) there seems to be a rail-thin teenage girl. Even in sports, most of the female athletes who are widely considered "hot" are shaped more like magazine models.

Women of every color struggle with body image issues, but this can be an extraordinarily sensitive issue for some black women because, for the most part, the mainstream's idea of beauty has excluded women who look like us.

"I know they're friends, but still it does something inside of me because we've been made fun of for so long for different parts of our body," Sherri Shepherd, co-host of "The View," said when the show discussed Wozniacki on Tuesday. "And to see Serena Williams reduced to this, I don't like it."

But the curves are something that many black women embrace. In a recent survey conducted by the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, 66 percent of black women identified as obese by the government standard had high self-esteem compared to just 41 percent of average-sized or thin white women.

Black women love their curves.

Who cares if someone makes fun of them?

For the record, I think Williams is beautiful, and if there were any athlete's body I could steal for myself, it would be hers. I'm also glad that Williams isn't afraid to show the world that she's proud of her body, regardless of what others might say about it. Exhibit A: The infamous catsuit.

Wozniacki's joke picked at some cultural insecurities, but who knows if she was even aware of them. Wozniacki might not exactly be Tina Fey, but she certainly isn't Mel Gibson.

Besides, as many professional athletes have discovered, their bodies and appearance are fair game. For example, LeBron James' hairline is the source of constant jokes. During TNT's "Inside the NBA" in February, Charles Barkley jokingly stretched a headband from underneath his chin to the center of his head to clown LeBron, who always wears a thick headband, presumably to cover his follicle issues. LeBron, however, has been a good sport about it, and has even poked fun at himself.

The best way for Williams to respond to Wozniacki is to chuckle. Williams has been a great role model for women who struggle with body image issues and Wozniacki's impersonation won't change that.

"I want women to know that it's OK," Williams said in ESPN The Magazine's Body issue in 2009, for which she was the cover model. "That you can be whatever size you are and you can be beautiful inside and out. We're always told what's beautiful, and what's not, and that's not right."
 
#2,937 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I hope this doesn't ruin Caroline & Serena Friendship
 
#2,939 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

It's just an attempt to make her even more mentally pressured...Media never loved her and can't but feel great when she struggles as they all go: "she never was worth of that n°1 place and now she's struggling even to win matches...etc."

:shrug:

for the record, I think she looked quite much like her and if it wasn't funnny (i smiled broadly), I didn't see it as offensive...and by the record, I know it's not good to make labels, but generally black people are too fast bringing the racist scream out, had she imitated Cornet for her nose I doubt all French people would have moved seas and mountains.
 
#2,940 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

It's just an attempt to make her even more mentally pressured....
It changed the discussion. Instead of us talking about can she get back into the top 5 and do well at majors again, we are talking about Roddick, Djokovic, and Caroline putting towels under their clothes.
Its almost a goof that its a discussion at all. At these exhibitions, a Nadal imitation is to pull your shorts out of your buttcrack. Or a McEnroe imitation is to yell at a lineman and sound out of control.
They're meant to be parodies, done for tennis fans about tennis players.

This is all a big nothing, and when it blows over, we just hope Caroline is focused and ready for 2013, and this doesnt become a distraction
 
#2,941 · (Edited)
Re: Articles and Interviews

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20121212/caroline-wozniacki-serena-williams/

Tons of questions/comments about Caroline Wozniacki/Serena Williams, so ...
I held off on this but then -- with a push from Whoopi Goldberg -- this "issue," such as it is, got into the vortex of social media. And then it got ugly fast.
Wozniacki stuffed towels into her top and her skirt, jokingly impersonating her friend Serena, at a recent exhibition in Brazil. Here's the video in question.
As is always the case when race is the issue, the spectrum of opinion was wide. Even in an attempt to stake out the middle ground -- I tweeted: "We can debate 'racist." But the optics here are awful. Can we agree on a charge of felony-grade distasteful?" -- I got it from both sides.
Wrote @Jesuis_ici: "Sorry to tell you, but this is deeper than just Serena. Many black women are upset over this. It's not just an individual case. So the attempts to diminish are offensive."
"Take a stand against [racism] Jon! You clearly favor the Danes on this," someone wrote in an email.
I hadn't even finished my smoked herring sandwich when @alexhleopold wrote: "Please stop trying to make an issue out of a total non-starter. You're better than this."
And @supertiebreak added: "Why should Caro even comment on the matter? She's friends with Serena and was just having fun. Blowing it out of proportion!"
@juggasells: "This is just the case of people who don't know tennis outside of just Serena and Venus and talk reckless and uninformed. Yes, because you're white, it's a different context. ... It's awkward for a white person to dismiss any notion of racism. But the fact is, they are WRONG here, and it's important for me, as a black journalist, who knows tennis, to say they are wrong. We can't have proper discussions on race with people who know nothing about the people they talk about, at all. A disservice. And it's a shame that I have to see now The View, and Whoopi, now cast that cloud of 'Is Wozniacki a racist?' A shame."
So here's where I stand: First, in no way do I think Wozniacki was being mean-spirited, much less racist. Serena was present in the arena, I'm told, and didn't flinch. Plus, the two are friends: Remember that when Serena was hospitalized with an embolism, Wozniacki was the first player to call her. There's a cultural relativism trope, too. Should Wozniacki, who grew up in Denmark, likely unaware about some of the historical connotations she was spoofing, be held accountable? And, yes, it bears mentioning that both Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic have unveiled similar impersonations of Serena without causing controversy.
I heard from some of Wozniacki's confidantes and know she is a bit shell-shocked by all this. One minute she is playing around with one of her friends, trying to entertain a crowd, put the giggle in a hit-and-giggle event. The next minute she is trying to ward off an ugly set of charges. There's also an understandable frustration. We want athletes to have color (pardon the pun) and betray personality and engagement. "When I try to have some fun and show charisma, I get pounded like [Manny] Pacquiao."
Lack of intent, though, doesn't automatically get you off the hook. I can offend someone, even if I had no designs of doing so. The folks who were bruised by this -- who referenced slavery and other racial stereotypes -- shouldn't be dismissed or told to "lighten up" simply because Wozniacki was not acting with malice. One of you mentioned this.
The verdict here: Cut Wozniacki a break. Save the charges of "racism" for uglier incidents. Consider Serena's good-natured response. Consider the context.
As for Wozniacki, here's a tip: Save the imitations of Serena's butt and chest. Impersonate her serve and groundstrokes instead. Carry on ...
 
#2,942 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I'm sure this nonsense shook her up. It shook us up, and we're not the ones being attacked.

From tough times come good times. She did nothing wrong and she knows that.

The people criticising dont understand that tennis exhibitions have parodies of a lot of tennis stars, and its in fun. When you parody Nadal, you're not doing it to insult a whole group of people, just one tennis star.

This is when you need your family and loved ones. Then stay tough and move forward.
I still say it will blow over. The people with an agenda to attack will sound stupid if they keep it up much longer. Its a couple of towels, and done many times by Roddick with no criticism
 
#2,943 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

The whole conversation which shouldn't be happening in the first place is being skewed by the racially sensitive part of society which thinks anything said or any imitation automatically has something racial behind it. It's bs and I don't like it, it's a sorry excuse for a slow news day.
 
#2,944 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I'm not on Facebook or on Twitter and I don't know to what extent this hysteria has grown, but many people appear to have retained some common sense. For example, on the dailymail site (http://www.dailymail.co.uk) we can read almost 1800 comments on this event, and most people seem favorable to Caroline. All the comments that have received the most thumbs up (up to 4198 thumbs) are defending the Dane. All the comments that are the least appreciated are those who are disrespectful. On the French media, it's the same trend: several journalists spew their venom, but the comments are pro-Caroline or the accusations of racism are just dismissed by the Internet users.

That leaves some hope.
 
#2,945 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I'm not on Facebook or on Twitter and I don't know to what extent this hysteria has grown, but many people appear to have retained some common sense. For example, on the dailymail site (http://www.dailymail.co.uk) we can read almost 1800 comments on this event, and most people seem favorable to Caroline. All the comments that have received the most thumbs up (up to 4198 thumbs) are defending the Dane. All the comments that are the least appreciated are those who are disrespectful. On the French media, it's the same trend: several journalists spew their venom, but the comments are pro-Caroline or the accusations of racism are just dismissed by the Internet users.

That leaves some hope.
Well, that comes as some sort of a relieve I guess. Even so, the news that Caro is shell shocked by all this isn't good news at all (but completely understandable) two weeks before the new season starts.
 
#2,946 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

While not wanting to open a can of worms, one thing about Caroline's 'racist' behaviour, which is really puzzling me is, why on God's green earth anti-racism campaigners (and they have a valid case in many, many, many cases) would want this (imho) completely non-racist case as their 'exhibit case' and talking point in media.

Maybe it's just me as a white person talking, but in my eyes, it will put a question mark to the next time people scream 'racism', because I will inevitably think about these bogus racism shouts against Caroline.
 
#2,947 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

While not wanting to open a can of worms, one thing about Caroline's 'racist' behaviour, which is really puzzling me is, why on God's green earth anti-racism campaigners (and they have a valid case in many, many, many cases) would want this (imho) completely non-racist case as their 'exhibit case' and talking point in media.

Maybe it's just me as a white person talking, but in my eyes, it will put a question mark to the next time people scream 'racism', because I will inevitably think about these bogus racism shouts against Caroline.
I dont even try to understand this outrage over 2 towels, especially when there is tape of Roddick & Djokovic doing it also

But it happened, and she has to handle it. Keep her focus, get ready for Australia. Enjoy this holiday season. You have to enjoy yourself. Life is how you react to good times and bad. Everyone has both
 
#2,951 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

Her Holiday is over. Now she prepare for 2013 really hard...another show comes soon..again with Maria...
Thats right! Another exhibition with Maria.
This goofy controversy will change the dynamic of this one. Maybe Caroline should play it like a real match
 
#2,957 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

I just hope this whole topic of her being racist dead down soon we all know it not true
 
#2,958 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

Nothing new then. :)

I was expecting a juicy debate about Caroline being responsible for the financial crisis, and global warming... A bit a of a let down after the cries of her supporting a dictatorship and tyranny the last time.
 
#2,960 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

This whole thing is a farce. Its Andy Roddick's impression. He's the person who made this a regular part of tennis exhibitions.
Djokovic, growing up in Serbia, and Caroline, in Denmark, would never know this was a hot topic for some people.
If it really was a hot topic for some, they should have their outrage aimed at Roddick.


That Caroline's name is in this is nonsense. She's doing a Roddick imitation of Serena, that Serena knew Andy was doing for years.

This whole thing is so stupid, and all it does is have some nontennis people insulting Caroline's character.

Thats where the insulting is, at Caroline, by hateful people who dont even want to admit this is Roddicks impression of Serena that other players copied because Roddick kept doing it with no criticism and positive crowd reaction.
 
#2,961 ·
Re: Articles and Interviews

This whole thing is a farce. Its Andy Roddick's impression. He's the person who made this a regular part of tennis exhibitions.
Djokovic, growing up in Serbia, and Caroline, in Denmark, would never know this was a hot topic for some people.
If it really was a hot topic for some, they should have their outrage aimed at Roddick.


That Caroline's name is in this is nonsense. She's doing a Roddick imitation of Serena, that Serena knew Andy was doing for years.

This whole thing is so stupid, and all it does is have some nontennis people insulting Caroline's character.

Thats where the insulting is, at Caroline, by hateful people who dont even want to admit this is Roddicks impression of Serena that other players copied because Roddick kept doing it with no criticism and positive crowd reaction.
Well, it makes no difference anymore at this point. They have found their chosen victim, and now the're gonna let her have it. And there's really nothing that she can do to stop this. If she apologizes those so inclined won't accept it as sincere and say that it's only a matter of damage control on her part. And at her next press conference she'll be asked about it and every word she says will be put under the microscope, and her words will be taken out of context, explained as "she said this, but she really meant that", and so on. Every newspaper, magazine, blogger and internet crazie will spin it in a way that fits his or her agenda. In short, she's fucked no matter what she does.
 
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