Tennis: Wozniacki fears for friends and family

CAROLINE Wozniacki, the former world number one from Denmark, admitted she been fearing for her friends and family after learning of this weekend’s deadly terrorist attacks in Copenhagen.

Wozniacki is trying to focus on preparations for her attempt to win back the Dubai Open title this week but admitted that her mind has wandered on to the horrors of the shootings.

The third-seeded Dane lives 165 miles away in Odense, but her brother Patrik is in the Danish capital and her thoughts immediately turned to him and to his safety.

“I spoke to my brother and he’s safe, but I think it’s horrible what’s happening (in Copenhagen) and in the world in general,” Woznacki said. “And when shootings like that happen close to where you grow up it’s scary.”

Asked whether she believed she herself was safe, Wozniacki pondered only briefly, explaining that she thought a fatalistic attitude was the best way to deal with the stressful ambience.

“I don’t think about it,” she said. “I don’t want to think whether anyone has control over me. I just live my life. If there’s going to be a shooting it’s going to be.

“But when it’s so close to home you really realise that it’s not great, and that people are affected who are close to you. Some of my best friends live only two minutes away from where the shootings happened.”

Wozniacki has already had plenty of stress in her life after Rory McIlroy, the world’s number one golfer, broke off their relationship five months ago, reportedly by telephone and after some of the wedding invitations had already gone out.

Since then Wozniacki has bravely worked her way up to world number five, her highest ranking for nearly three years, and has improved her form to a level where she is playing well enough to hope for an elusive first Grand Slam title of her career.

With only Simona Halep of Rumania and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic above Wozniacki in the seedings this week, the Dane is a contender to win back the title she captured here four years ago – provided her mind stays clear of the horrors back home.

She will have a none-too-easy beginning to her campaign, though.

Wozniacki learned that she will start with a second round match against Samantha Stosur, the former US Open champion from Australia, who scored a 6-3, 6-1 first round win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist from Croatia.