NEW YORK, June 29, 2023 (US Open Press Release)
The USTA today announced that it will award former World No. 1 and two-time US Open women’s singles finalist Caroline Wozniacki a wild card into the women’s singles main draw of the 2023 US Open.
Wozniacki, 32, recently announced she’d be returning to competitive tennis this summer. She retired following the 2020 Australian Open in order to start a family, and she and her husband, former NBA player David Lee, now have a two-year-old daughter, Olivia, and an eight-month-old son, James.
Over these past three years away from the game I got to make up for lost time with my family, I became a mother and now have two beautiful children I am so grateful for. But I still have goals I want to accomplish. I want to show my kids that you can pursue your dreams no matter… pic.twitter.com/OQatFWxQGK
— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) June 29, 2023
Wozniacki spent 71 weeks as the world No. 1 and won the 2018 Australian Open, the first Danish player to win a Grand Slam in singles. She reached the singles final at the US Open in 2009 and 2014 and made three additional semifinal appearances, in 2010-11 and 2016. Her career WTA titles (30) and match wins (633) both rank in the Top 20 all-time.
Wozniacki is the latest Grand Slam champion to return to competitive tennis after becoming a mother, a list that includes Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters – who won three Grand Slams, and two US Opens (2009-10), after starting a family – and Victoria Azarenka. Active players at the WTA level who are mothers include Azarenka, Elina Svitolina, Taylor Townsend, Tatjana Maria, Evgeniya Rodina and Vera Zvonareva.
Williams, Azarenka and now-retired Tsvetana Pironkova made history at the 2020 US Open by becoming the first trio of mothers to reach the quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam.
