Caroline Wozniacki To Play Serena Williams Before Retiring

Caroline Wozniacki is retiring from professional women’s tennis, but not before playing bestie Serena Williams one last time. The  29-year-old Danish tennis star, who was the No. 1 seed as recently as 2018, took to Instagram on December 6th to let fans in on the news of her upcoming retirement. She said, “Getting married to David was one of those goals and starting a family with him while continuing to travel the world and helping raise awareness about rheumatoid arthritis (project upcoming) are all passions of mine moving forward.” Caroline Wozniacki married former Knicks player David Lee in 2019. That same year, Wozniacki was also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes joint stiffness.

Her announcement:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I’ve played professionally since I was 15 years old. In that time I’ve experienced an amazing first chapter of my life. With 30 WTA singles titles, a world #1 ranking for 71 weeks, a WTA Finals victory, 3 Olympics, including carrying the flag for my native Denmark, and winning the 2018 Australian Open Grand slam championship, I’ve accomplished everything I could ever dream of on the court. I’ve always told myself, when the time comes, that there are things away from tennis that I want to do more, then it’s time to be done. In recent months, I’ve realized that there is a lot more in life that I’d like to accomplish off the court. Getting married to David was one of those goals and starting a family with him while continuing to travel the world and helping raise awareness about rheumatoid arthritis (project upcoming) are all passions of mine moving forward. So with that, today I am announcing that I will be retiring from professional tennis after the Australian Open in January. This has nothing to do with my health and this isn’t a goodbye, I look forward to sharing my exciting journey ahead with all of you! Finally, I want to thank with all my heart, the fans, my friends, my sponsors, my team, especially my father as my coach, my husband, and my family for decades of support! Without all of you I could have never have done this!

A post shared by Caroline Wozniacki (@carowozniacki) on Dec 6, 2019 at 5:31am PST

While Wozniacki’s last professional match will be in the upcoming Australian Open, her farewell match will be held in Copenhagen at the end of May against Serena. The two tennis aces are off-court friends. But Wozniacki announced through the Sports Group, “The end of my career cannot happen anywhere but at home and against the greatest player ever and my friend Serena Williams. It will be an evening I will never forget, I am sure.”

Serna and her husband Alex Ohanian both responded to Wozniacki’s announcement with support.  Serena in the form of emoji hearts and Ohanian with the sweet sentiment, ““Excited to see you be awesome at whatever comes next.”

Williams served as a bridesmaid in Wozniacki and Lee’s June 2019 Tuscan wedding. Having to wear a bridesmaid dress has surely provided extra incentive to Williams to beat her good friend in the match despite it being Caroline’s final date with professional tennis.  Tennis World reports that tickets for the event titled “The Final One 2020” sold out in just 48 hours.

Image: JosephineGasser/Unsplash