Wozniacki could look to Rafter for inspiration

For Caroline Wozniacki, her first appearance in a title match this season came in Qatar in February, when she fell to Karolina Pliskova in straight sets.

Her most recent finals match came in Canada only a couple of weeks ago, where she lost to Elina Svitolina, also in straight sets.

In between those two championship bouts, there were four other final-round appearances made by the Dane and she came out on the losing end in all of them—without winning a set.

Victories, or lack thereof, aside, Wozniacki has been one of the most consistent performers on the WTA Tour this season. After seeing her ranking take a big dip due to injury before turning things around at the US Open last year, Wozniacki is now back in the Top 10 and is seeded fifth at the US Open.

With two final-round appearances in New York, she obviously knows how to handle everything that comes with playing at the last Slam of the season. And there’s no reason for her to feel dismayed by the missed opportunities to grab some first-place hardware leading up to the event: Twenty years ago, a future Hall of Famer went through the same thing.

In 1997, a crucial Davis Cup win seemed to breathe new life into the Australian and shortly afterward in March, he reached his first final in nearly three years, losing a tight three-setter to world No. 1 Pete Sampras.

A month later in Hong Kong, Rafter found himself playing for another title. He was denied by another American, Michael Chang, who beat him in straight sets.

As the tour shifted to clay, Rafter showed his serve-and-volley style could be effective as he reached his third final of the year in St. Poelten, Austria, then advanced to the semifinals of the French Open, where he lost to Sergi Bruguera.

Despite winning his first and only title on grass back in 1994, Rafter came up empty on the turf this year. During the summer hard-court stretch, though, he reached two more finals leading up to the US Open, in New Haven and Long Island.

He entered the year’s final major as the No. 13 seed and at a career-high in the rankings. In a tournament plagued by upsets, Rafter didn’t face a seeded player until the semifinals when he took on Chang, who had beaten him in five of their seven career meetings. Rafter, though, had just turned the tables on Chang in Long Island and picked up another win against him in New York, beating the second seed in straight sets to reach his sixth final of the year.

In the title match, the Australian faced another first-time Grand Slam finalist, Greg Rusedski. Rafter defeated the unseeded Rusedski in four sets to claim the first major title of his career, the true starting point on his Hall of Fame career.

Twenty years later, Wozniacki finds herself on a similar path heading into the Open. However, as the last two Grand Slams have shown, the majors are wide open on the women’s side. And what would be better than breaking that lost-finals streak than coming away with the grand prize in New York?

It’s a feeling Rafter knows well.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias