Caroline Wozniacki, Caroline Wozniacki. This woman forever perplexes me. On one hand there’s just so much about her that makes me dislike her, and then on the other hand, like a smelly fungal infection, she’s really, really growing on me.
After Wozniacki’s second round victory over Kucova, the Stuttgart PR person came into the press room and asked us (in German, so I couldn’t reply) all if we wanted a presser from her. That in itself I thought was funny because most of the other prominent winners had pressers arranged with no questions asked, yet here he was asking us all if we wanted a press conference from the top-ranked tennis player. Even more shocking still is that the response was a resounding ‘no’. And when I say “resounding”, I mean that every single person in the press room said no. Every. Single. One.
And so I asked a couple of people around me why they said no. Again, they replied as one with comments to the effect of “she’s boring”, “she always says the same thing” and even “it would be a waste of my time”. Ow.
After the reporters at the Australian Open called her boring, she responded by criticizing their questions as being boring and repetitive and leaving her with no choice but to rehash the same answers over and over again. And so I decided to put this theory to test in her press conference after the Petkovic match. After yet another boring question followed by a similarly bored and dry answer from Wozniacki, I finally had enough and chipped in;
Me: You obviously joined the player council last year. Why did you want to join it?
Woz: First of all I think that as a top player I think we have some possibilities to change a few things on the tour. And just make it better with the players. I felt that if me, Serena and Venus are on there we can make a few decisions. Serena and Venus asked me a few times if I wanted to join so I decided I wanted to do it, I think it’s a good way to get involved and really make it better for everybody. Not only the top players, but everybody.
Me: What specifically did you want to change?
Woz: Well, there are a few issues. Obviously next year with the Olympics coming up, we have a few questions about the scheduling of tournaments. And then a few things with the roadmap that, you know, could be changed to be better for the players
Me: You also tweeted that you came here on a private jet. How did that come about?
Woz: Yeah, I did. I have good friends[laughing]. You know, my friend he was in monaco. He asked where I was going and I said I was going here, and he said “ok, I can drop you off on my way.”
Me: You think maybe you should get Turkish Airlines to get you your own one?
Woz: Yeah, I actually asked them… I saw that Barcelona has their own plane with their colours on it…
Me: Yeah, you can get one with your face on it
Woz: [laughter] yeah, I made that joke – that I should get a plane with my face on it [laughing].
She’s no Petko, Serena, Jelena, Venus, Martina and even Maria etc. who can create interesting or hilarious answers out of seemingly nowhere, but if you put just a little effort in, then she can, at the very least, deliver answers worth quoting. Maybe the problem is that people don’t try hard enough.
Like this:
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Hello Footfault,
I wonder if we saw the same match today. I only saw the first set, but I thought that Caro played more agressive than usual, which showed in the winners statistics. I also thought her dropshots in the first set were pretty good, almost all were clear winners. I used not to like her style of play very much, but I think her game has improved a lot this last year.
I also thought the quality of the match was fine, very different match from Georges-Stosur, longer rallies, less power, but more intricate.
When I read your derogatory remarks on twitter, it seems clear to me that you have very personal likes and dislikes of playing styles. I find it hard to blame Caroline for being dry in pressers, if the veneer of journalistic objectivity is this thin. After all, she has to spend her energy and make her money on court, not trying to change her personality for the benefit of her critics.
Well first, I’m not a journalist, nor have I ever called myself one. Certainly in the future, but for now I’m simply a blogger/writer or whatever going to tournaments and giving my own opinion on things. All these trips and travels come out of my own (empty student) pockets, and so though I will always act respectfully in the press room and around the players, I’m also always going to give my opinion back here. Biased or not.
And I looked back at the timeline and I don’t see where I actually dissed the match. I made a few sarcastic jokes, but that’s all and I make sarcastic jokes about practically every match I watched. They’re really not supposed to be taken seriously.
And finally, I found it funny that you should criticize me about being biased against Woz on a post that is completely ‘for’ Caroline. But anyway, this being my first meeting with her, I kept an open mind going in. I, like you, was convinced that at least some of the calls that Woz is boring were down to the journalists themselves and their repetitive questions, but while her first presser was ok, the second was a disaster;
I would’ve written a post explaining why I was so critical about that semifinal presser, but I’ve been really busy with work. But in a nutshell, when she sat down, there was literally complete silence. She stared straight at us, with no one knowing what to ask her because there is just nothing to ask her. You already know the response. I finally had to break the awkward silence and asked a series of questions – most of them about things off court and things I knew people have never asked.
Off the top of my head, one question being about how much input she has in her endorsements, how her off-court team functions and whether there are any clashes in interests with her team who want to push the offcourt endorsements, and she who most probably wants to focus as much on tennis as possible. Not too bad a question, right? But as with all the questions in that presser, it was just the same ol’ bland, media trained, ‘not actually answering the question’ answer. And it was the same when others asked about the match. TennisTV commentator Guy McCrea, who IS an unbiast journalist, tweeted pretty much a similar thing. Just in less explicit terms because he is a journalist.
And it’s not about her changing her personality. Even someone like Stosur who we all know is one of the most quiet and reserved top players, after her loss to Julia, was open and frank in every answer, and answered them as well as she possibly could. They weren’t always the most exciting answers in the world, but she still came across well simply because she listened and then spoke honestly. And we even had a little laugh there. But, as someone in the press room said afterwards, Wozniacki is just “PR trained to death” right now, and the ironic thing is that this way of answering questioned is only bringing her bad publicity.
As a consistent reader of your blog, I think you strike a great balance between honest opinion and respect.
I even scanned your tweets after the first post here and didn’t see anything remotely offensive.
And it’s not due to my having thick skin; there’s another credentialed amateur journalist that makes my skin crawl.
I can’t help but ask; when the tennis establishment gives out press pass access, does it give any guidelines on what writing would be considered too offensive?
There’s none at all. I assume that if someone does cross the line in their writing, then someone will have a word with that person since there are WTA PR/Communications people always present in the press room, and I’m pretty sure they check up on everyone.
But they probably wouldn’t hand credentials to people who trash players and cross the line with their remarks, anyway.
However, when cerain “real” journalists are able to get away with murder both in their writing and on twitter, who knows?
” I assume that if someone does cross the line in their writing, then someone will have a word with that person since there are WTA PR/Communications people always present in the press room, and I’m pretty sure they check up on everyone”
Thanks for the reply. Sadly, that isn’t my experience. Or maybe saying a top player “looks like a tranny” isn’t considered offensive to either the player, or a segment of the population. I saw it play out, figured it went under the WTA’s radar. As I’m in the States, I called the WTA, talked to, and then emailed a guy listed as a WTA Sr. Mgr of communications…. I figured that the corporate types didn’t deal with this new social media stuff. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This guy tweets more than a teenager, and his twitpics show he’s well aware of this journalist’s work.
I’m guessing you’re sick of the debate over paid vs. volunteer journalists getting player access. I can just comment as a tennis fan. I love the idea of giving passionate writers enhanced access to the players and sharing that experience with the rest of us. But that access should come with a reguirement for a higher level of civility. If someone wants to leave offensive remarks on their website, that person shouldn’t be given enhanced access to the players.
Alternatively, the WTA can just rename themselves the WEA (Womens Exploitation Association). ….(
Sorry for the rant. As a future journalist, maybe you have a more intelligent perspective. And as I said before, none of this applies to your writing.