Just ten unforced errors against one of the hardest ground strokers in women’s tennis, and, frankly, it was just another day at the office, statistically, for Caroline Wozniacki.
No thunderclap services, though she’s capable of cranking it up to 115 mph. No shrieking. No theatrics. No self-designed tennis clothes. And not a lot of spectacular shots.
She must be driving the press room tennis dilletantes nuts because they’ve got nothing they can hang their hats on with Wozniacki except her exceedingly good looks, which has nothing to do with her tennis.
But those of us who appreciate the more subtle aspects of her game see a lot more. All she does, and it’s quite enough, is get the ball back and get it back deep. All she does is move her opponents, as she did with Maria Sharapova on Monday, from side to side until their knees ache from the rapid changes of direction. All she does is force errors. All she does is get her first serve in an average 70 percent of the time.
And that’s Wozniacki, a sort of female version of Andy Murray and a 20-year-old who, after this 6-3, 6-4 win, is just three victories from not only capturing her first Grand Slam singles title, but becoming the No. 1 ranked player in the world as well.
Oh, she has weapons all right. Her backhand is the rock in her game and she has such absolute control of it that you could see Sharapova hustling back to the center on the backhand-to-backhand exchanges, extremely wary of The Woz’s backhand down the line.
And there is that devastating, take-control return of serve that led to a 19-10 won/lost mark on Maria’s second deliveries — a return of serve, incidentally, that is so deep and strong that it was a major reason why Sharapova pounded out nine double faults in this match.
Sharapova plays high-risk tennis — 32 winners and 36 unforced errors in this match. Wozniacki? Her shots are deep but safe and low-risk — 16 winners and 10 unforced errors. And those numbers are not an aberration.
Here’s Wozniacki in three previous matches at this Open: 11 winners and 10 unforced errors; 12 winners and 7 unforced errors; 7 winners and 6 unforced errors.
She doesn’t give it away and has so much patience and intelligence in the long, grinding rallies that she reminds you a bit of Martina Hingis, but with a lot more juice on the ball. There’s also a bit of Chris Evert there with her superb anticipation of ball direction. When Sharapova aced her twice in the second set, it was the first aces recorded against Wozniacki in the Open.
Of course she’s not unconquerable. She’s played some stinkers this season, and Sharapova for a moment appeared to have found a nice changeup with a couple of drop shots that left Wozniacki frozen at the baseline early in the second set. But this Danish ingenue, daughter of Polish-born parents, makes mid-match adjustments like a veteran.
If you think Wozniacki is all counter-punch and defense, you’re mistaken. While she doesn’t roll up a lot of aces, her first serve is extremely accurate. She’s not anywhere near the leaders in aces, but if the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour kept statistics on “free points,” I’m sure she’d be near the top.
In fact, the SEWTA keeps statistics in only 10 key areas. Wozniacki, currently No. 2 in the world, is among the top 10 players in only two categories — No. 6 in points won returning first serve and No. 9 in return games won.
What does it mean? It means consistency. One category the WTA doesn’t keep is “unforced errors.” Wozniacki certainly would be among the elite in fewest committed. The WTA also doesn’t record forced errors of opponents — another category that would find Wozniacki at or near the top.
There are any number of players who serve with more pace or hit more winners. But right now, at this moment in women’s tennis history, there is no one, with the exception of the absent Serena Williams and possibly Kim Clijsters, who have a fuller understanding of what it takes to win tennis matches.
This hasn’t been the greatest of women’s seasons with too many injuries (Serena, Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina), but Wozniacki’s rise to prominence is going to save the year.
A Wozniacki-Clijsters final would be wondrous, and I think it will happen.