BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 10, 2024

Caroline Wozniacki

Press Conference

C. WOZNIACKI/K. Volynets

6-2, 4-6, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Caroline, do you want to start us off with your thoughts on the match?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah. I thought it was a pretty good match. You know, Katie plays a very different kind of tennis. She gets a lot of balls back. She kind of tried to slow down my pace. She counter-punched very well. So any time I hit it short, she would go in and, you know, really cut off the angles and go in a different direction.

It was a difficult match. We had a lot of long rallies, but happy to be through.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Can you sort of take us through your day today. Angie, the other mom you're playing now, was talking about this the other day. Curious, this balancing act you guys are managing.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah. You know, obviously woke up with the kids and hung out with them this morning. Yeah, just tried to preserve some energy, but at the same time wanted to hang out with the kids in the morning.

Then kind of by midday, my mom, and we also have a nanny, so they took the kids to eat something. Then I ate something and took a little nap. I came out here and warmed up and played. That was that.

Yesterday spent the whole day with the kids. Was not practicing. Was on the playground yesterday. My friends' daughters is here too, so we got, kind of got to hang out and catch up. The kids were playing so that was a lot of fun.

Q. When you say "hang out," were you in the pool with them?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: They were at the playground yesterday. They were having so much fun. My kids still nap. They nap from 12:30, the little one, and Olivia from 1:00 to 3:00. Then they hung out again in the afternoon. They are having a blast. I was watching, making sure everyone was safe. That was kind of that.

Q. Just how are you feeling just like physically? Very physical efforts in these matches to get through and obviously on this court with its grittiness and slowness, you kind of have to work a little bit harder. So physically how are you going into the round of 16?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: For sure. It's interesting, because this court, if you play someone who is a heavy hitter and plays very flat, the court actually skids through quite a lot, but if you play someone who plays with a lot of spin, the ball stops and bounces really high.

You can really have two kind of different surfaces, depending on who you're playing. But again, today we had a lot of long rallies, a lot of long points, and I feel pretty good.

You know, fitness-wise, this was definitely a tough match, but I feel good now and got some treatment. You know, just have a day tomorrow to recover. I would be fine playing tomorrow anyways, but it's nice to have a day in between. I guess that's the positive about being kind of the first half to play.

Q. It's been I think 14 matches since your comeback started in about seven months. Is it satisfying you're hitting the level you're at without having to play too much? And then also, what is your vision of a season for yourself? Are you going to play less than you have previously?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah. I definitely will be playing less. You know, traveling with the family is not easy, but it's something that I really enjoy doing. Just traveling every week is not something that is possible for us as a unit and it's not what's best for my family.

I definitely will be playing less, but at the same time, I feel like with the experience that I have and the amount of years I've been on tour, I feel like I can navigate that. And obviously with not being seeded in tournaments, that also leads to playing against, you know, top players early on in the tournaments.

But at the same time, I feel I'm ready for it. I feel if I'm playing my best tennis I can beat anyone on a good day. But I've said it before, if you don't play your best you'll be out early. It's all about just being ready from the beginning and, you know, give it my all. That's kind of all I can do at this point.

You know, I'm just, again, I just take one tournament at a time. It's all about also keeping my body fresh, you know, and injury free, so that's kind of where I'm at at the moment.

Q. Earlier this evening on BNP Paribas Open Radio, Angie was a guest and she was watching the match from upstairs in the booth. She was obviously hoping her friend would get through, and she said if it happens, it's going to be, quote, unquote, a popcorn match. What are your thoughts looking ahead and going into that match?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I hope she sat there for the whole match (smiling).

Q. Not quite. The baby needed her.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a great match. We've played each other so much. We know each other extremely well. There's going to be no secrets out there. We both know each other's game inside out. We know what to do, we know what to expect. It's really going to be about who is going to be better on the day. It can go either way.

But we'll see who comes out playing better on the day. That's really it. You know, I don't know how many wins I have or she has against one another, but I think I heard that this is the 16th time that we're going to play each other. So I'm pretty sure that we're pretty close in the matchup head-to-head. We'll see.

It's going to be a great match regardless, and I'm excited for it.

Q. It's 8-7 to Angie.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Did you really have to, like, put that out there? (Laughter.)

Q. Because the last one was so long ago, and it was 2013 that you played each other here. Does what happened in those previous 15 matches really mean anything?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Probably not. Again, we know each other's games really well, we practice together all the time. So it's not like one of us will be going out there feeling like there is a clear favorite.

You know, I think both of us are going out there thinking it's a 50/50 match, and whoever grabs the opportunities best is going to win that match. I think that's the mindset of both of us I think going out there.

Q. Angie had said that you two are in touch pretty much daily and that doesn't change if you're going to play each other. Are you potentially going to coordinate outfits, or did adidas give you -- does everyone have one colored dress for this?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: You know, even today, I mean, Katie was wearing a top and a bottom, a skirt and a top, she wasn't wearing a dress, but it kind of looked like the same. So even if we're wearing two kind of different outfits, I think we're both going to look pretty much the same out there.

But, you know, I guess it's good for the brand. You get the stuff out there, and I think it's a really cool dress, so I'm going to try and rock it. I know that Angie is going to rock it too.

Q. And you guys look alike too, which makes it extra confusing.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: She's a lefty, so...

Q. No, but tonight with Katie...

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah.

Q. Are you physically and mentally different, would you say, than you were, like, last September when this was first all starting? Are you better at switching your brain sort of off from what's going on off the court to when you get in here? Does your body feel differently now? Does the ball feel differently off your racquet than it did earlier in the comeback?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I definitely, coming out to the US Open, I chose to play two tournaments leading up to the US Open because I wanted to see where my game was at, what needed to be done. I played at the US Open knowing that that was going to be the last tournament of the year for me and finishing it off the year early.

The reason being I wanted to see where my level was at, to see what I needed to do moving forward. I thought my level was very high immediately coming off not playing for three-and-a-half, almost four years.

So that was not surprising to me, but also very satisfying. So I knew that I needed to get in better shape physically. Again, I think I've said that before, but not necessarily how my body looked but more, you know, tennis-specific. So that's what I've been working on in the offseason.

And again, I wanted to get a warmup before Australia, and obviously I wanted to play better in Australia than I did. I felt like I was in great shape going into that tournament. So that was disappointing for me not getting further than the second round. But, you know, again, just getting back and into the rhythm, practice, and getting ready for this and Miami was the next kind of big things for me. So that's my mindset is to really try and peak for the big events and try my hardest to find my level for that.

Yeah, I think my fitness and my physique is definitely better now than it was at the US Open. I think a lot of hard work has been put into it. It's not easy after pregnancy to come back and feel 100% as a top athlete, and after two kids, I think it's even harder. I felt that was the case. You know, there's a lot of little knickknacks. Your body changes slightly after carrying a baby. So it's been a big focus on me just trying to stay healthy and trying to regain the strength and the core and everything else that kind of comes with it.

Q. You're better at the mental part of sort of the balancing act of it?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I think you kind of learn along the way. It's never easy, you know, doing both, but it's a lot of fun. It's a big pretty privilege to be out here competing against the best players in the world.

Mentally, I think if you asked Angie too, it's just great that we can be out here and still competing at this high of a level. I think for both of us it's about enjoying the moment and competing as hard as we can and leave it all out on the court.