Former tennis No. 1 unretires, announces return at 2023 U.S. Open

After retiring in 2020, Caroline Wozniacki will make her return to professional tennis at the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 28 in New York.

"There's just an electric atmosphere in New York that I can't get enough of, and I've played so well there for years and years," Wozniacki wrote in an essay for Vogue.

Wozniacki admits that when she retired, she had no plans of returning to competition. She and her husband, former NBA player David Lee, expanded their family as Wozniacki gave birth to their two children. After the birth of her second child in October 2022, a visit from her father changed her feelings about returning to the tennis court.

"I hit for 20, 30 minutes — I'm not sure how long, but at one point I looked at him and said, 'I feel like I'm hitting it better than I ever have. Am I making that up?'" Wozniacki remembers asking her dad.

"He said I wasn't making that up. And that's when I knew I had to get back out there," she wrote.

In the years since Wozniacki retired, Iga Swiatek has emerged as the best women's tennis player. She won the 2023 French Open and is the No. 1 seed at Wimbledon, beginning July 3. Later this year at the U.S. Open, she'll seek to repeat as champion after winning the tournament in 2022.

Wozniacki first reached No. 1 in the world rankings in 2010 during a span that extended into 2011 and then again seven years later after she won her first grand slam title, the 2018 Australian Open.

She's reached three semifinals at the U.S. Open (2010, 2011, 2016), her most semifinal appearances at any of the four Grand Slams.

Wozniacki hopes her return to tennis inspires women. 

"I've talked with a lot of women who gave up on their own dreams because they wanted to be with their families, but somewhere deep down they have this yearning to do something they're passionate about. I want to show those women that maybe there's a way," she said.

Her close friend Serena Williams proved it's possible to have both following her remarkable return to tennis after giving birth to her daughter. Wozniacki wrote that Williams "doesn't get nearly enough credit for getting to so many Grand Slam finals after having Olympia... She paved the way for so many of us-she showed us that anything is possible."