This is why Caroline Wozniacki sees her return to the Miami Open as a fresh start

For Caroline Wozniacki it’s been a ‘will she or won’t she’ play the Miami Open question all year long after she left last year’s tournament on a sour note.

It wasn’t that the Dane lost to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig in the second round in 2018 that rattled the then reigning Australian Open champion. It’s that she claimed Puig’s fans were disrespectful and alarmingly aggressive towards her family in the stands.

At the time, Wozniacki went on social media to complain about the situation.

“During the match last night people in the crowd threatened my family, wished death upon my mom and dad, called me names that I can’t repeat here … meanwhile security and staff did nothing to prevent this and even accepted this take place,” posted Wozniacki, following that defeat.

Tournament staffers, including tournament director James Blake, countered that no one in Wozniacki’s camp reported the incident so they were unaware there was a problem.

On Friday, after the 13th-seed won her opening match 6-4, 6-4 over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, she explained why she decided to return to the tournament.

“First of all, they changed the venue, which I think for the first year coming back it was probably good for me,” said Wozniacki, who maintains a home in Miami. “I do love Key Biscayne. I think Key Biscayne is an amazing place. I think it had charm, a lot of things that moving out here doesn’t. … This feels like a new tournament. That was one of the reasons.”

Wozniacki, who announced at the year-end WTA Finals in Singapore last October that she’d recently been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, has only played — and lost — one match at Indian Wells since failing to defend her Australian Open title by losing in the third round there in January. So she also understood she was in need of playing matches.

“As an athlete, you go through a lot, ups and downs, both I think on the court but also you see a lot of things off the court,” she said. You just have to move on basically. I said what I had to say.

“I thought it was important that I spoke up when it did happen. Now I just feel like we’ve all moved on.”

Tough day for young locals

It turned into a disappointing day for young local standouts as Cori Guaff, 15, Amanda Anisimova, 17, and Sofia Kenin, 20, endured second-round losses Friday.

All three live within easy commuting distance to the tournament’s new state-of-the-art facility located at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Gauff resides in Delray Beach, Anisimova in Miami, and Kenin in Pembroke Pines.

At 15 years, 19 days old, Gauff is the youngest of 18 teenagers in the main draw. In the first round she became the youngest women’s player in a decade to win a WTA singles main draw match when she ousted fellow American teen Catherine McNally in three sets.

Madison Keys was the most recent youngest player to win a WTA match, which she did at 14 years, 54 days at the 2009 MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Gauff’s luck ran out when she faced 14th seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia, who picked up her second match win of the year with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.

“It’s definitely been a good tournament for me and I’ve learned a lot today,” Gauff said.

Anisimova battled back from a one-set deficit, but surrendered a 4-2 third-set lead in losing to Estonian Anna Kontaveit 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

“I got a bit nervous,” Anisimova admitted. “I think definitely it requires experience to overcome the nerves, but I’ll keep practicing.”

Kenin, who won her first WTA title at the Hobart, Australia tournament in January, ran into confident Canadian Bianca Andreescu, who won her first career title last week at the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Andreescu, who escaped a match point in her first round encounter Thursday, sent Kenin packing 6-3, 6-3.