It was difficult to know what must have been more difficult for Caroline Wozniacki, stepping back out onto the court or facing the inevitable-if-polite probes about how she was feeling after her split with Rory McIlroy.
She tackled both with calm and dignity, but the most traumatic week in her life had not got a whole lot better – she lost in the first round of the French Open and perhaps the only consolation was that she can get her life back together away from the spotlight.
Choosing her words carefully about her personal situation, she dispelled any suggestions that the break-up was ‘mutual’. 'Obviously you’re not prepared for something like this, and it came as a bit of a shock,' she said.
That may be putting it mildly, as she is said to have been unaware of any hints that McIlroy’s bombshell was about to land, an upheaval that he responded to so contrastingly on the golf course at Wentworth.
It did not help that she faced a rejuvenated opponent in Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated her 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. Something to do with that was that Wozniacki has also had to contend with a knee injury recently on top of everything else.
Following the match, looking pale, drawn and possibly a little thinner, she took some questions, although asked that they be related purely to the match she just played. That was being somewhat optimistic but she held her head high throughout.
In fact her exit attracted at least as much attention as what was a far bigger upset in the women’s draw – the defeat of second seed and former champion Li Na by French 21 year-old Kristina Mladenovic.
Coinciding broadly with the advent of her high profile relationship with the Northern Irish golfer, Wozniacki’s star purely as a tennis player has fallen somewhat, and as number 13 seed her loss was not of the seismic variety by comparison.
Dailym
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