Wozniacki is turning her hand to long distance running (©GettyImages). Caroline Wozniacki has announced she will be running in the New York Marathon in November, after her participation in the tennis season came to an end.
While the Dane previously reached the top of the WTA world rankings, she will now be aiming to succeed in another sport in aid of charity.
The 24-year-old said she contacted New York Road Runners to enter the event because it is another aim that she wants to tick off her list of potential achievements, and it will be the first time she has entered the event.
“It’s always been on my bucket list,” she told the NY Times.
“And always New York City was the one I wanted to do. I’ve seen it on TV, and I have always thought one day I would do it.
“November, I looked at my schedule and I didn’t really have any plans when my season ended, so I thought, ‘Why not do it?’ ”
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The world number 13 is currently in preparation for the US Open, which begins on Monday August 25th, and she is scheduled to play in warm-up events in Toronto and Cincinnati in the next two weeks.
She will then play in two more tournaments after the final Grand Slam of the year in New York, and she could also take part in the WTA Tour Finals in Singapore in October if she finishes the year ranked inside the top eight.
Time for training
This would then leave the one-time US Open finalist with little room to practice running long distances ahead of the marathon, but Wozniacki is confident that her tennis schedule will not get in the way of her preparations for the marathon.
She said: “Obviously, it’s going to be hard. I’m a tennis player first, and that’s what my main priority is.
“At the same time, I’m going to incorporate a lot of longer runs into my training.”
It will be the first road race that Wozniacki has competed in, but her training has required her to run between 30 and 40 minutes a day, and her longest run to date has been 11km, which equates to just over 11 miles.
Opportunity
Wozniacki is not being put off by any doubters, and she is willing to take her chances, despite the risk of exhaustion going into the event.
“Everyone thinks I’m a little crazy. But we only live once.”
Being able to focus on another sport could be a welcome break at the end of a difficult year for Wozniacki, as she has fallen out of the top 10 of the world rankings, and has not managed to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.
Her performances on the tour have also been overshadowed by her split with fiancée and Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy in April, who she had been in a relationship with for over two years.
Wozniacki did win her first singles title of the year at her last tournament, however, as she beat Italian Roberta Vinci in the final of the WTA Championships in Istanbul in July to win her 22nd WTA title.
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