Caroline Wozniacki: "I learned so much about myself and a lot about the people around me"

Simon Chambers interviews Danish tennis superstar Caroline Wozniacki.

Q: You’re only 24 but you’ve been around a long time. Does it feel like that to you?

A: This is my 10th year and it does feel (a long time). Especially my body, I wake up every morning and something is hurting. It’s always something.

It’s not like in the old days I woke up and I never needed the physio. I never needed to do anything, I didn’t do any stretching, massages. Now it’s like a different story.

Q: You had a tough first half of 2014, for obvious reasons. Were you surprised how well you played in the second half of last year?

A: Erm, this is going to sound bad… but not really. I think the most important thing was that I wasn’t injured, I was healthy, my body was healthy. I was on court for so many hours every day, working out, training hard, I think everything just came together at the right time.

I always feel if I work hard, if I can practice 100%, then the results will come, whether it’s the first tournament, the third tournament, it’s going to come.

I thought I was going to have a good second half but it was a great second half, I felt like I was where I wanted to be and it was great to be back where it matters.

Q: I know you love to prove people wrong. Do you think of yourself as a strong personality?

A: I definitely think so and last year even proved that more to myself, that you can choose two ways of looking at things.

You can either feel sorry for yourself and lay down and cry or you can actually learn from it and move on and find all the positives in it.

I found I was very strong in a tough situation and actually turned it into something positive and something that could also help me for the future.

Q: You wouldn’t have chosen to go through that six months though?

A: No, I wouldn’t, but everything happens for a reason and at the end of the day I think there was a reason why everything happened and I think I came out as a stronger person.

I’m happy and trying to stay healthy and it’s all good.

Q: Your friendship with Serena Williams has been well documented. When she comes out with the odd wacky comment, do you think: that’s just Serena?

A: Yeah. That’s what makes it fun, you never stop laughing and I think that’s great. I think her biggest trait is that she’s always there for you. If you need her, she’ll be there. That’s very important.

That’s what I appreciate so much about her and respect about her. There’s never a dull moment and there are so many laughs.

Q: You seem totally rejuvenated though?

A: Yeah, it’s been a great six months, it really has been. It’s been a learningful year last year. I learned so much about myself and a lot about the people around me and it’s been great for me actually.

Looking back at it, I think I’ve grown a lot as a person, I’ve just enjoyed playing really.

It’s been my place where I can just go out and do what I’m good at and just enjoy it.

Q: Do you think you’re playing better now than when you were number one?

A: I’d like to think so, otherwise the hours I’ve spent on court have been wasted. You have to keep improving.

There are so many young ones out there; they’re hungry, they want to win. We have this broad range of players — the players who have been around for so many years as well, the experienced ones — so you have to keep improving, otherwise people are going to start passing you.

I’d like to think I am playing better now.

Q: You’re obviously happy with your game?

A: Yeah, I am feeling good. I feel like I’ve worked so hard, November and December,

I feel like I’ve tried to work on my game a little bit, keep improving and try to play even better than I did in Singapore at the end of the year where I felt like I probably played some of the best tennis I ever have.

That was great for me because I know I can reach that level.

Sometimes I’ll play worse, but it’s fine because you know you can play that level. We still have plenty of time left this season and obviously everyone wants a good start.

Q: Do you still love tennis?

A: I do. If I didn’t love tennis I wouldn’t be playing. That’s also why I don’t know how long I will be playing because if I start feeling like this is not what I want to do anymore, that there’s not really any reason anymore.

There are so many other things to do. But right now I’m loving it, it’s fun, it’s still exciting, especially to come out to these events.

They make it special for us players.