Wozniacki embarks on post-retirement adventures

After 15 years on tour, Caroline Wozniacki said goodbye in January at the Australian Open, the site of her first Grand Slam title 2018. Her timing would turn out to be excellent as the tours headed into a six-month shutdown in March.

The 30-year-old and her husband David Lee were in the midst of international travel as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and would rush home to quarantine.

"Spending three months in each other's space day to day was definitely different," she said on the TENNIS.com Podcast. "But to be honest, we've really enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed some downtime that we've had."

Wozniacki's immediate retirement hasn't gone quite as planned given the restrictions, but she still has managed to film a show for Discovery ChannelDenmark called "Undressed to the Top with the Wozniacki Family".

The trip to Africa in March was for the show, which began airing weekly episodes in August.

Her filming experience was a little out of this world as it involved hiking snow-covered mountains in Poland, free diving in Zanzibar and meditating with a Shaolin monk in Tanzania before attempting to Mount Kilimanjaro in a bra and shorts.

"Basically the whole premise of the show is we meet three gurus, Ice Man [Wim] Hoff, Master Shifu and also Stig Severinsen," Woznaicki said. "They teach us a few things that we're supposed to take with us when we’re climbing Kilimanjaro and we're trying to reach the top of Kilimanjaro with very little clothes on."

The show was a family affair involving her mom Anna, dad Piotr, older brother Patrik and Lee's mom. It makes perfect sense as the tight-knit family has been a guiding force for her from the very start of her career.

"My dad started coaching me when I was seven years old, and being a very similar personality sometimes obviously we can butt heads," Wozniacki said. "But at the same time he's so cool, he's so understanding. He's such a great dad, but he's an amazing coach, and I couldn't have had a better person by my side every step of the way."

Piotr Wozniacki was by her side in Melbourne when she lost her third round match to Ons Jabeur and said goodbye to professional tennis.

Wozniacki was nervous to tell her dad she was retiring, but he responded with nothing but happiness for his daughter.

"I was so nervous that he was going to be sad and wanting me to play," she said "And I was nervous for him because every morning at 9:00 a.m. I would text him and be like, 'Hey, see you at the courts in 15 minutes.' And it was a way that we would also just connect and we'd see each other every single day and it was really nice."

Their bond is still going strong: Wozniacki resides in Monaco with Lee and her parents are so close by that they meet up for coffees and dinners.

She doesn't miss tennis, especially the daily grind, and doesn't think playing in fan-less stadiums would appeal to her.

"I love tennis, but I also enjoy not having to wake up in the morning and play for four hours every day," she said. "I honestly only have hit balls once since January, so I don't really miss it yet. I think for me the biggest thing was to be able to play in front of a big crowd."

After winning 30 titles and chasing her on-court dreams for so long, it's been nice to slow down, at least for a moment. On top of the TV show, she's just launched a global health campaign called Advantage Hers, to help women dealing with inflammatory diseases like her own battle with Rheumatoid arthritis.

"Obviously with having the lockdown and everything else I just wanted to take a little breath, and just enjoy some time, some downtime, because I've been on the go for over 20 years," she said. "Now I'm ready to do more stuff and I'm excited for it."