"The
one, and perhaps only, universal compliment that Caroline Wozniacki
receives on her tennis game relates to her tenaciousness and fight. She
proved as much in Saturday's three-set loss to Kaia Kanepi. The former
world No. 1 won the second set after going down 1-5 and staged a brief
comeback from the same score in the third, before Kanepi prevailed 6-1,
6-7 (3), 6-3.
Wozniacki channeled some of her fight to the chair umpire during a
whiny exchange in the second set. A Kanepi shot was erroneously ruled in
and Wozniacki took the opportunity to childishly complain about it. The
complaint itself was valid -- replays showed the ball landing beyond
the line -- but the setting was more lockers and Trapper Keepers than
red clay and Paris. At one point, Wozniacki asked the umpire if he had
ever gone to school. It was a wonder she never got to "I know you are,
but what am I?"
A transcript of the exchange that was clear on audio:
"You can not just sit there and be so
arrogant. How can you see those balls there when the ball is like this
out? It's not touching the line. If we had Hawk-Eye you would be so
freaking embarrassed right now. So embarrassed, especially when you can
see the mark. Have you been to school? Can I ask you, have you gone to
school? You have gone to school, so you know that this [holds up fingers closely together] is out. It's not so difficult."
[Related: Caroline Wozniacki to release own underwear line]
Wozniacki, who has dropped to No. 9 in the world and hasn't won a
tournament since last August in New Haven, continued her outrage in the
post-match press conference:
"When the ball is clearly out, I don't
think there should be anything to argue about. If they cannot see, they
should have other umpires on the lines or invent Hawk-Eye on these
courts. It's a disgrace that mistakes like this are made. It wasn't even
like, you know, could have been in, could have been out. It was clearly
out. Also, when a ball travels 5 miles an hour in the I think either
the linesman or the main umpire should be able to see the ball, as
well."
Is Wozniacki mocking Kanepi's light hitting? I'd call that ironic, but it's been a while since I've been to school."