Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki is facing a difficult summer of tennis after crashing out early at the French Open, continuing her bad run of form.
The Dane fell in the second round at Roland Garros 7-6 6-3 to Bojana Jovanovski and has now lost five of her last six competitive matches. Her only victory was a three-set struggle over British number one Laura Robson, in which Wozniacki benefitted more from her opponent’s deficiencies than her own superiority.
The clay season really hasn’t gone well for Wozniacki and she faces a difficult summer ahead because of it. Having fallen in the first match of Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome and Brussels the 22-year-old was always going to suffer a rankings drop but she is likely to plummet following Roland Garros.
Tennis betting fans know her weakness comes from her service game, which always offers opponents a break chance – especially on the sticky clay. This season Wozniacki has won just 60.9% of her first serve points and 46.9% on the second. Compare this to close-ranked competitors Sam Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Li Na, all of whom have a 2013 service record four percent or higher than the Dane.
That may not seem much but over the course of a match it can be the difference between winning and losing sets and this is where Wozniacki has faltered.
She is fine on the hard courts where balls zip off the surface yet clay is slower and opponents aren’t intimidated when receiving her best serves. This leaves Wozniacki open to gruelling service games, while her return percentage has also fallen sharply over the past two years.
With Wimbledon just around the corner Wozniacki is the best bet to fall at the first hurdle. She’s done so in five of her last six tournaments and looks in no fit state to reverse those fortunes. Click here for all the latest tennis odds with bet365.
Joe Short
