War of Words Heats Up Between Wozniacki and Navratilova Over Rankings
February 22, 2012 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Former world number one-ranked Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark went back at Martina Navratilova this past week after she claimed that Wozniacki had never deserved to even be at the top of the world rankings. Wozniacki said she lost respect for Navratilova and that it was meant to stir things up a little bit.
"I would never say Martina was number one when there was no one playing, or that she was the best when no one was playing. That would be disrespectful," said Wozniacki. During a Australian Open press conference, the legend of women’s tennis stated that , "Clearly nobody feels Wozniacki is a true number one."
Although Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam titles during a time the women’s game had less competition, she still criticized the current ranking system which allowed Wozniacki to stay at number one for 68 weeks. She gave the reason that there is too much emphasis on the quantity of wins over their quality. Petra Kvitova, Navratilova says, should have become the number one after she won Wimbledon and five other titles in 2011.
Wozniacki lost her world number one ranking to 2012 Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka three weeks ago.
