Wozniacki: Defeat is no setback

 

Originally published on: 20/06/12 00:00

The world No.7, who began the year atop the rankings, was beaten 6-1 6-7(7) 6-4 by 20-year-old American Christina McHale but Wozniacki insists she has no cause to panic ahead of the third Grand Slam of the year.

“It's not really going to be a setback,” said the 21-year-old Dane. “I didn't play any matches last year on grass before I went to Wimbledon. Obviously you want to be in the tournament, there's no doubt about that, but, you know, there's still a lot of girls out there you can practice with and you can play sets with them.  That's just what I'm going to do.”

Wozniacki won the Eastbourne event in 2009 but fell to Aravane Rezai in the first round in 2010 and avoided playing a grass court warm-up for Wimbledon the following year. She has fallen in the fourth round in her last three appearances at Wimbledon, having done better at every other Grand Slam – reaching the US Open final in 2009, the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2010 and the semi-finals at the Australian Open in 2011.

Though she enjoys playing on grass, Wozniacki admitted that the packed summer schedule makes things challenging and that she would welcome a longer grass season.

“You know, it’s always very tight to go French Open, [then] Wimbledon, but that’s the way it’s always been,” said Wozniacki. “It’s just something that you need to adapt to. I personally wouldn’t mind having a longer grass season because I actually think it’s a nice surface to play on, but you know, we only get a couple of weeks a year.”

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