Top

Wozniacki: A hard worker suits me


 

Originally published on: 01/06/12 00:00

Despite the failure of her last attempt to bring a new coach into her entourage, Caroline Wozniacki has hired Thomas Johansson in an attempt to halt her slide down the world rankings. The Swede, who is a neighbour in Monte Carlo, began working with the 21-year-old Dane before the French Open, where she is through to the third round after wins over Eleni Daniilidou and Jarmila Gajdosova.

Wozniacki worked briefly with Ricardo Sanchez after the end of last season, but the arrangement did not work out and she was soon back with her father, Piotr, who has coached her since she was 14. However, after starting the year as world No.1 and falling rapidly in the following weeks – she is currently No.9 in the rankings –  Wozniacki felt the need to bring some new thinking into her team.

“First of all he’s a great guy,” Wozniacki said of 37-year-old Johansson, a former world No.7. “We have a good connection. Also he lives just underneath me, which makes everything easy when you're going to go for practice and everything. He's played on the tour before. He's won a Grand Slam, the Australian Open. He has the experience. He knows the women players because he's been commentating. I think he can come with some advice and maybe some tactical things that he could see. I think I can work with him. He's a hard worker as well, and I think that really suits me.”

Asked to compare Johansson with Sanchez, Wozniacki said: “It’s definitely different, because during the whole of my career I've always had someone there as well who just comes with some input or a second voice that's helped my dad. My dad has been my main coach since I grew up. With Sanchez I wanted to do something that was a bit different and maybe try to give him more initiative.

“This time it’s working well with Thomas. He tells me what he thinks and he's not soft, which I don't like. I don't like it when someone tells me ‘Oh, it's great, it's great’ when it's not good or I don't feel it's good. I want someone who is strict and tells me things how they are. He's like that.”

Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here


Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.