Caroline Wozniacki and Karolina Pliskova are the top two seeds here this week and both came through their opening-round matches at the Nature Valley International on Monday. Right now, that’s where the similarities end. On the one hand, there is Wozniacki, playing with the freedom earned from finally becoming a grand slam champion after her win at the Australian Open in January. Then there is Pliskova, a former world No 1, still trying to get over the line and looking anything but cool about the prospect, at least in the near future.
Each claimed their first grass-court wins of the summer on Monday, but in different fashion. Woznacki, in her first outing since the French Open, beat Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-2, 6-3 while the defending champion Pliskova battled past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, a much-needed confidence boost after losing her first match in Birmingham last week.
Ever since her victory in Melbourne, Wozniacki has revelled in one simple fact; never again will she be asked the question: ‘Do you think you will ever win a grand slam title?”. Five months on, the Dane is content, knowing that whatever happens, she has done it. “It took me a while to get that first grand slam just to know that even if I stop my career tomorrow or whatever it is, it just feels great to basically have a complete resume,” Wozniacki said.
“I think that gave me kind of a more relaxed approach. You’re a competitor and you want to win everything and you want to keep improving. But at the same time, it feels so nice going into a press conference or into a grand slam and [thinking]: ‘you know what? You cannot ask me that question again and how it feels because I have actually done it. I think it’s maybe even sweeter, you know, having to wait a little longer for it.”
Having never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon, Wozniacki will not be under huge pressure when she gets to the All England Club next week. Her game, she says, is in the right place, and she is likely to prove a tough opponent for Johanna Konta, should the Briton overcome Aleksandra Krunic in the second round on Tuesday.
Pliskova, meanwhile, does not have the same luxury as Wozniacki. After the Dane’s win in Australia, the victory by Simona Halep at the French Open meant that the tag of “best player yet to win a major” was quickly passed on to Pliskova. It’s a burden that does not rest easily on the 26-year-old’s shoulders, it seems. Though she won on clay in Stuttgart in April and reached the semi-finals in Madrid, she lost early at the French Open and grass, it is clear, is not her best friend. “I like hard courts the most. Then there is clay. And then there is grass,” she said, with a smile.
In theory, there is no reason why Pliskova should not excel on grass, given her huge serve and big, flat groundstrokes. But the Czech has never been past the second round in six attempts at Wimbledon and the belief, if anything, does not quite seem to be there when the surface beneath her feet is green.
“It’s tough, because everybody thinks I have perfect game for grass,” she said. “And for sure I believe I can go far, so it’s not that I hate the tournament, I don’t like [it]. But maybe we can try to have a better relationship together with Wimbledon and I can play better this year.”
Britain’s Heather Watson will head to Wimbledon short of confidence and short of match practice after she was beaten 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 by Kristina Mladenovic of France in the first round. With just one win from four grass-court events this summer, the result also means the 88th-ranked Watson will now drop out of the world’s top 100 when the list is updated next week.
