Serena Williams is one of the biggest icons in sports history. But while the American’s fierce competitiveness that propelled her to 23 Major titles contributed to her aura, the maturity and compassion she displayed towards her peers also played a part in it.
Most tennis fans are well-versed with Williams’ dominance of the WTA Tour in the 2010s. During this time, she had the upper hand in her rivalries against former World No. 1 players such as Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki.
Caroline Wozniacki, on her part, had the most lopsided record against Serena Williams as she won only one of their 11 head-to-head meetings. She was, however, much more cordial with the American legend than the rest of the women’s circuit, which led her to take some liberties during an exhibition event.
In December 2012, Wozniacki imitated Williams during an exhibition match against Sharapova. The then-22-year-old padded her top and skirt with towels to replicate the American’s curvaceous figure.
She also grunted in the same shrieky manner that Serena Williams did after hitting her groundstrokes, causing a great furor amongst the latter’s fans. Many of them even found the impersonation to be racist.
The fallout from the incident was apparently so bad that Serena Williams had to defend her friend in a letter to USA Today, a leading American newspaper. She even brought up other famous impersonators such as Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick.
Here are the excerpts from her letter:
“I know Caro and I would call her my friend. And I don’t think she (meant) anything racist by it. I must add, that if people feel this way, she should take reason and do something different next time.
(Roddick) and (Djokovic) do it all the time and Caro does (it) and now it’s racist? At the end of the day, I spend my time focused on things to become better and not bring me down.”
Serena Williams, meanwhile, considered Wozniacki to be one of her “true friends” when both of them were competing on the WTA Tour.
“Caroline is really honest, she’s really real,” Williams said in 2016 to CNN. “She’s one of my true friends that will tell me the truth no matter what because she doesn’t have anything to gain or to lose, and that’s what I love about her.”
The two players met several times at the biggest tournaments on the women’s circuit. The American convincingly beat the Dane 6-3 6-3 in the 2014 US Open final and also beat her in the quarterfinals of the 2012 London Olympics.
Wozniacki scored her lone victory over Williams in the last eight of the 2012 Miami Open.
