ESPN The Magazine
Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki posed nude for ESPN The Magazine’s annual Body Issue, and talked about her training regiment and body with the magazine. The ninth annual Body Issue will be out on July 7. ESPN also released a behind-the-scenes video of the photoshoot.
(ESPN)
In the interview, the 26-year-old Danish tennis player said she was often told that Danish tennis players don’t often find success.
Behind the scenes of the photoshoot. (Eric Lutzens for ESPN)
“I was always told that there’s no chance that a girl from Denmark can become a world-class tennis player,” Wozniacki said. “We’ve never had any women in the top 30. Every time I would say, ‘I want to be No. 1 in the world,’ people would just laugh at me. But I’ll find a way. I don’t take no for an answer.”
Wozniacki is currently battling back from an ankle injury and will be playing at Wimbledon in July. She’s never won the tournament, but made it to the fourth round in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Behind the scenes of the photoshoot. (Eric Lutzens for ESPN)
“Last year was rough on me. I’ve never really been injured before, for longer periods of time, and last year was just one little thing after the next,” Wozniacki told ESPN. “It made me realize that sometimes you need to listen to your body and let it heal. When you’ve been 12 years on [the WTA] tour, your body just keeps taking a beating and it’s going to break down on you. I think the main thing for me is keeping on top of the small injuries and making sure that when I’m back on the court, every time I’m at 100 percent.”
She said she experienced the worst pain she’s ever had last spring, after her April 2016 ankle injury.
Wozniacki has 25 WTA singles titles and the 2006 Wimbledon Girls’ Singles title. She’s reached the US Open finals twice and is currently the sixth-ranked women’s player in the world.
The tennis star also opened up about her training regiment, explaining why she boxes. “I like to get pushed to the limit, and I like to test how far I can go,” she said.
She also said that the most impressive thing she’s ever done was run the New York City Marathon in less than three and a half hours.
“It was on my bucket list. Until Mile 21, I was fine. This is easy, I’m going to run another one. But at Mile 21, I completely hit the wall,” she explained to ESPN. “I saw a milkshake place on the right and was like, ‘Can we just stop and have a milkshake?’ And then [my two pacers] just started talking about milkshakes, and because they kept talking to me, it pushed me through that mile, mile and a half where I was struggling. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done physically in my life.”
ESPN The Magazine debuted in 2009 and features athletes in the nude or wearing little clothing, along with interviews about their training and bodies. As for Wozniacki, she also posed for Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue earlier this year.
“I’ve realized that I can’t spend time stressing about something I don’t have and just embrace what I do have,” Wozniacki told ESPN. “It’s so in to have curves now. It’s in to be looking healthy. If I don’t look like a supermodel on the runway, that’s OK because I look good in my own way.”
