From Course to Court

Caroline Wozniacki freely admitted that she had done “everything you’re not supposed to do before a marathon,” a range of transgressions that began with having run no more than 13 miles in any of her training sessions to staying out until 4 a.m. at a Halloween party three nights before to attending a New York Rangers hockey game, foregoing dinner in the process, on the night before the great race in New York City.

It makes you shudder to think what kind of time Wozniacki might have logged if she had been a bit more scrupulous about her approach. As it was, Wozniacki finished the marathon in three hours and 26 minutes, a spectacular accomplishment under the circumstances.

Is this the same Caroline Wozniacki who stands eight inches taller and weighs 46 pounds more than the winner, Kenyan Mary Keitany, who weighs just 92 pounds and at 5’2” is well-built to run distances? The same Wozniacki who had spent the previous week in Singapore, battling her fellow tour elites in the WTA Finals? The same young woman who was thought to be heartbroken and adrift after her busted romance and a slide to No. 18 in the world earlier this year?

Wozniacki is famous for having finished as the year-end No. 1 in the WTA rankings for two years in succession (2010 and ‘11) without having won a Grand Slam title. She’s the only player ever to do so. Some have questioned her make-up as a competitor, her toughness. Tennis is certainly a different sport from long-distance running, but the idea that Wozniacki lacks what is commonly called character and drive has been shattered as convincingly as the predictions of those pundits who insisted that in choosing to run a marathon while still functioning as a full-time player, Wozniacki was being not merely arrogant, but blind to reality.

“I love to prove people wrong,” Wozniacki said in a television interview not long after she was greeted at the finish line by her great pal, Serena Williams.

Let her gloat. She’s entitled.

This performance by Wozniacki was more than eye-opening—it was a spectacular testament to the athleticism of a young lady who, thus far, has not been able to win any of the four biggest events. There certainly are technical and probably mental reasons for that; running isn’t nearly as technique-intensive as tennis, and any player who knows gut from gutta percha can attest to the outsized role mental self-control, confidence, and stress-resistance plays in the game.

But when a tennis player can blow through the most storied of all annual marathons as if it were a Sunday morning jog, especially under the brutally windy conditions that marked the day, it says something about her grit. It also speaks volumes about the quality of the athletes playing women’s tennis today.

It’s easy to forget that the higher up you go on the degree-of-difficulty in sports, the more mental factors becoming determining elements. High performance is always dependent on what we like to call “mental toughness.” Runners frequently speak of “hitting the wall,” which is where their resolve melts away into surrender—not necessarily quit-the-race surrender, but just-get-it-over-with resignation. Wozniacki had a dozen reasons, beginning with the demands of her primary occupation, to determine somewhere around mile 18 or 20 that she’d made her point. You could hardly have called her a dilettante had she done so. The thought never appeared to cross her mind.

At the 15-mile mark, well into terra incognita given her catch-as-catch-can training, Wozniacki felt so exuberant that she began to think about running more marathons. Her mantra, repeated aloud, over and over, was “This is awesome!”

As profundities go, it may not be destined to make it onto inspirational posters or T-shirts. As a demonstration of the strength of the human body and spirit, it was priceless.

By the time she hit mile 20, Wozniacki was feeling it deep in her quads and ankles. But being first and foremost a competitor, she could also smell the finish line. It’s something that can’t be taught to the average athlete who’s always operated within a personal comfort zone, taking the good and the bad in small, manageable doses. But it’s an instinct in the great athlete, and with any luck it becomes honed over time.

Remember Wozniacki’s 7-5 in-the-third loss to Dominika Cibulkova at Wimbledon in 2011? A little bit of what she went through then, and in any number of other comparably heartbreaking matches—and scads of hard-fought triumphs—probably played a role in how she executed this marathon run. As well, the great relief of having to fight no one but yourself (unless you happen to be a contender to win the race) had to be liberating for Wozniacki. It was all in her own hands. There was no Serena serve or Radwanska drop shot to foil her plans.

Among all the positive outcomes here—all that money raised for charity, exceeding the goal she set for herself (Wozniacki had declared that she hoped to finish in under four hours, while secretly setting the bar at 3:30), making tennis look good—the best one may not be evident until next year. This race, as different from tennis as apples and oranges, may have a confidence dividend in the 2015 season. Wozniacki is still just 24 years old. She has time to win that Grand Slam title that has eluded her.

Those last six miles were tough, Wozniacki admitted afterward. Yet she was beaming and she looked downright energetic as she crossed the finish line, arms raised and beaming. Interviewed by ESPN’s Hannah Storm, she eventually conceded, “I think I need to lie down. I think I need a milk shake. Vanilla.”

It was a great moment for Wozniacki, and a great one for tennis. Some folks will undoubtedly have their doubts, and question whether she can win a major title in the years to come. Just remember, this is a player who loves to prove people wrong. And that attitude is one of the few things that’s actually transferable from the long and winding course around New York’s five boroughs to the tennis courts of the world.