Days after being humiliatingly dumped by her fiance during an abrupt telephone call last month, she crashed out of the French Open in the first round, but Caroline Wozniacki on Tuesday vowed that she is bouncing back from her split with golfer Rory McIlroy, saying that she is rediscovering her game and even hinting at a flirtation with Spanish tennis player Feliciano Lopez.
The Danish star and world No. 26 Lopez — dubbed “Deliciano” by Judy Murray in 2011, presumably to the enormous embarrassment of her son, Britain’s Andy Murray — were spotted together this month at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, England, where the Spaniard told reporters: “I like her so much. She has a great character.”
Asked about the interview in which he also mentioned admiring her father, Wozniacki joked: “He’s already making his way in through my dad?”
Photo: AFP
Yet of Lopez she would say only: “He’s a great guy,” before saying with a smile: “This is very awkward,” adding that it is “pretty hard to sweep me off my feet. It would have to take someone very special.”
McIlroy’s name has been strictly off-limits in the runup to Wimbledon, with journalists warned not to mention the Northern Irishman in interviews with the Dane.
In a press conference following her comfortable defeat of Israel’s Shahar Peer in the first round at Wimbledon, the former world No. 1 — seeded 16th in the tournament — deftly sidestepped questions about her breakup, saying: “We’re a month already past that. I’m feeling good and I’m playing well and I’m excited to be here.”
Wozniacki flew to Miami the day after her Roland Garros defeat, where she was met by the US’ Serena Williams, whom she described as “an amazing friend.”
“She’s always been there for me whenever I’ve needed her. It’s great that you have such an amazing competitor ... after everything that she’s achieved in her professional career, that she finds time,” Wozniacki said.
The Dane’s second-round opponent is to be Briton Naomi Broady, 24, who won her first Wimbledon match on Monday despite being cut off from Lawn Tennis Association funding since 2007 after she posted a photograph of a night out with friends on a social media site.
“I’ve been the only person at every practice session for the past few years. I’ve not had any coach there, from the federation or anywhere else,” Broady said after her first-round win.
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