Caroline Wozniacki: Dane will retire after making Australian Open farewell

Caroline Wozniacki has announced she will bring her tennis career to an end after the conclusion of the 2020 Australian Open, two years after she won it.

In 2018, Caroline Wozniacki enjoyed the biggest moment of her career when she won the Australian Open.

It was a glorious first Grand Slam success for her, given she had initially risen to world number one more than seven years earlier and had lost two previous major finals at the US Open, the first of those way back in 2009.

Just two years on from that first Slam victory, the 29-year-old will play her last tournament at the same event in Melbourne after announcing her plans to retire on Friday.

It is a rapid turn of events for Wozniacki, who was number one in the world after that win over Simona Halep in the final and this time last year ended the season still ranked at the lofty heights of three.

A difficult year meant she ended 2019 down at number 38 and now she has opted to end her career once the Australian Open concludes next February.

Since winning her first WTA title in 2008, she had won at least one trophy on the main tour every year until 2019 became the first year where she did not.

She has not reached the quarterfinals at any major since her 2018 Australian Open win but will now bid to finish on a high with one last push, bowing out at the location of her greatest accomplishment at Melbourne Park.

Wozniacki was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2018 but insisted this retirement decision was not related, saying it had “nothing to do” with her health and vowing to her fans this was “not goodbye”.

She explained she had goals off the court to achieve having played professionally since she was a 15-year-old.

Wozniacki is hoping to start a family with her husband, former NBA player David Lee, who represented the Golden State Warriors.

The Dane has won 30 WTA Tour titles and the impressive nature of that figure is emphasised by the fact Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova are the only active players to have achieved more.

A week ago, Wozniacki had posted a picture of herself in preseason training ahead of 2020 on social media.

Much of the media debate over recent weeks has been on when Roger Federer will call it a day and the timing of the move has come as something of a surprise, even in the context of her declining fortunes.

https://twitter.com/CaroWozniacki/status/1200844048296292353

"But in her announcement she wrote on social media: “I’ve always told myself when the time comes that there are things away from tennis that I want to do more, then it’s time to be done.“In recent months, I’ve realised that there is a lot more in life that I’d like to accomplish off the court.“I’ve played professionally since I was 15 years old and in that time I’ve experienced an amazing first chapter of my life… I’ve accomplished everything I could ever dream of on the court.“Getting married to David was one of those goals and starting a family with him while continuing to travel the world and helping raise awareness about rheumatoid arthritis are all passions of mine moving forward.“I want to thank with all my heart, the fans, my friends, my sponsors, my team, especially my father as my coach, my husband, and my family for decades of support… without all of you I could have never have done this.”"

Caroline Wozniacki has made an impressive mark on the WTA Tour and she is not done quite yet, with her last matches in Melbourne sure to get plenty of attention.