LONDON (Reuters) – Caroline Wozniacki raised a few eyebrows when she opted to tune up for Wimbledon by competing at an indoor hardcourt tournament but the Danish world number one was quick to explain what she hopes will be a winning formula for the grasscourt major.

“I think it was a great preparation because to change from clay to grass straight away is pretty drastic, so I chose to take the middle way and go to hardcourt and from hardcourts to grass and it feels good,” the 20-year-old told Reuters in an interview on the eve of Wimbledon.

While most of the world’s top women competitors gathered at various grasscourt tournaments in England and Netherlands following the French Open, Wozniacki hopped back home to play in Copenhagen.

Apart from the world number one, the Danish Open failed to attract any other top 30 player — suggesting that a hardcourt tournament in the middle of the grasscourt season had little appeal for other Wimbledon contenders.

But following the rest of the pack has little appeal for Wozniacki.

Earlier this year she turned up on court at the Qatar Open in a Liverpool shirt signed by soccer player Steven Gerrard, and on Saturday she announced she was a reporter from “the Monaco newspaper on Avenue Princess Grace” as she hijacked Novak Djokovic’s news conference and grilled him for a few minutes.

After being turfed out of that conference by a red-faced WTA official, she explained why she was comfortable with her decision to play in Copenhagen, where she won the title without dropping a set.

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) – Caroline Wozniacki raised a few eyebrows when she opted to tune up for Wimbledon by competing at an indoor hardcourt tournament but the Danish world number one was quick to explain what she hopes will be a winning formula for the grasscourt major.

“I think it was a great preparation because to change from clay to grass straight away is pretty drastic, so I chose to take the middle way and go to hardcourt and from hardcourts to grass and it feels good,” the 20-year-old told Reuters in an interview on the eve of Wimbledon.

While most of the world’s top women competitors gathered at various grasscourt tournaments in England and Netherlands following the French Open, Wozniacki hopped back home to play in Copenhagen.

Apart from the world number one, the Danish Open failed to attract any other top 30 player — suggesting that a hardcourt tournament in the middle of the grasscourt season had little appeal for other Wimbledon contenders.

But following the rest of the pack has little appeal for Wozniacki.

Earlier this year she turned up on court at the Qatar Open in a Liverpool shirt signed by soccer player Steven Gerrard, and on Saturday she announced she was a reporter from “the Monaco newspaper on Avenue Princess Grace” as she hijacked Novak Djokovic’s news conference and grilled him for a few minutes.

After being turfed out of that conference by a red-faced WTA official, she explained why she was comfortable with her decision to play in Copenhagen, where she won the title without dropping a set.

LONDON (Reuters) – A Wimbledon final without Roger Federer almost seemed unthinkable 12 months ago but the ‘unthinkable’ happened last July when the most gifted player to have picked up a tennis racket discovered he was no longer on the guest list for the showpiece match at the grasscourt grand slam.

But the man who enjoyed the privilege of opening Center Court proceedings at the All England Club for seven successive years – including 2009 when Rafa Nadal was unable to defend his title – is now back to reclaim his crown.

The six-times Wimbledon champion purposefully strode into the grounds on Saturday at 1027 GMT (6:27 a.m. ET) and even the miserable British weather did not dampen his spirits as he went through his paces during a 30-minute hit with his friend Tommy Haas.

Just in case Federer had forgotten the identity of the current holder of the title, Nadal navigated his way through the couple of hundred people jostling for space around the outside court and the Spaniard was soon nodding his head in appreciation as Federer finished off the session with a flurry of aces.

Job done for the day, Federer exchanged high fives with his great rival and walked off court knowing that he was just seven matches away from drawing level with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw’s record of seven men’s titles.

Dressed in an all white track suit, Federer settled into a green chair in a bunker of the All England Club to have a chat with Reuters about how much he wants to win back the Wimbledon crown, his desire to reclaim the world number one ranking, his various records and how he combines his on court commitments with fatherhood.

REUTERS: Roger, last year was the first time in eight years that you were not involved in the final weekend at Wimbledon. What was that like for you?

LONDON (Reuters) – A Wimbledon final without Roger Federer almost seemed unthinkable 12 months ago but the ‘unthinkable’ happened last July when the most gifted player to have picked up a tennis racket discovered he was no longer on the guest list for the showpiece match at the grasscourt grand slam.

But the man who enjoyed the privilege of opening Centre Court proceedings at the All England Club for seven successive years – including 2009 when Rafa Nadal was unable to defend his title – is now back to reclaim his crown.

The six-times Wimbledon champion purposefully strode into the grounds on Saturday at 1027 GMT and even the miserable British weather did not dampen his spirits as he went through his paces during a 30-minute hit with his friend Tommy Haas.

Just in case Federer had forgotten the identity of the current holder of the title, Nadal navigated his way through the couple of hundred people jostling for space around the outside court and the Spaniard was soon nodding his head in appreciation as Federer finished off the session with a flurry of aces.

Job done for the day, Federer exchanged high fives with his great rival and walked off court knowing that he was just seven matches away from drawing level with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw’s record of seven men’s titles.

Dressed in an all white track suit, Federer settled into a green chair in a bunker of the All England Club to have a chat with Reuters about how much he wants to win back the Wimbledon crown, his desire to reclaim the world number one ranking, his various records and how he combines his on court commitments with fatherhood.

REUTERS: Roger, last year was the first time in eight years that you were not involved in the final weekend at Wimbledon. What was that like for you?

EASTBOURNE (Reuters) – Venus Williams has always taken her role as big sister to Serena very seriously but never before had she thought a bit of family intuition would end up saving the life of the 13-times grand slam champion.

Serena, who once starred in the American medical drama ER, found herself in the center of her own health scare in February when she had to undergo emergency treatment after a life-threatening blood clot was found in one of her lungs.

Had it not been for a tip off from Venus, Serena may have been prevented from making her long-awaited comeback to competitive tennis this week in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in the British seaside town of Eastbourne.

“I remember I was in the gym and Serena called me and said ‘my foot’s swelling’,” Venus, who is celebrating her 31st birthday this week as she too makes a comeback, told Reuters in an interview.

“My physio and I were both there and I said ‘you need to look up online on symptoms of blood clots’. So she did and our physio went back and what do you know, it was.

“She had lot of the symptoms and thank god she did not ignore it because that could have been dangerous.

“I wasn’t with her so it wasn’t like I could do anything… but I just suggested because it was one of the symptoms. I did not believe this could even happen to her.”

EASTBOURNE, England, June 14 (Reuters) – Venus Williams has always taken her role as big sister to Serena very seriously but never before had she thought a bit of family intuition would end up saving the life of the 13-times grand slam champion.

Serena, who once starred in the American medical drama ER, found herself in the centre of her own health scare in February when she had to undergo emergency treatment after a life-threatening blood clot was found in one of her lungs.

Had it not been for a tip off from Venus, Serena may have been prevented from making her long-awaited comeback to competitive tennis this week in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in the British seaside town of Eastbourne.

“I remember I was in the gym and Serena called me and said ‘my foot’s swelling’,” Venus, who is celebrating her 31st birthday this week as she too makes a comeback, told Reuters in an interview.

“My physio and I were both there and I said ‘you need to look up online on symptoms of blood clots’. So she did and our physio went back and what do you know, it was.

“She had lot of the symptoms and thank god she did not ignore it because that could have been dangerous.

“I wasn’t with her so it wasn’t like I could do anything… but I just suggested because it was one of the symptoms. I did not believe this could even happen to her.”

EASTBOURNE, England (Reuters) – For more than a decade the Williams sisters viewed Wimbledon warm-up tournaments as surplus to requirements and they were right as they lifted the Rosewater Dish nine times in 11 years between them.

But health problems, freak accidents and lengthy injury layoffs forced Venus and Serena to cook up a new gameplan this year and they have flown to Britain a week early to make their long-awaited return to tennis at the Eastbourne International.

“…Serena hasn’t played in a year and I have played three or four tournaments in a 12 month period so it’s crucial for us to play these key matches at this tournament and do this leading to Wimbledon,” Venus, who has been out of action with an abdominal strain since January, told reporters Saturday.

“Normally after the French Open we go home to rest and train and that’s been the best for us. But this year the best preparation is to be here. As soon as I missed the French Open, I set my sights on being here,” she added.

While injuries have restricted Venus to playing only the majors for over a year, Serena has been sidelined since winning Wimbledon almost 12 months ago after she badly cut her foot on some broken glass in a restaurant. A life-threatening blood clot in one of her lungs further delayed her comeback.

With both sisters now fighting fit, Venus is delighted she can again terrorize opponents with her silky grasscourt game.

LONG ROAD

EASTBOURNE, England, June 11 (Reuters) – For more than a decade the Williams sisters viewed Wimbledon warm-up tournaments as surplus to requirements and they were right as they lifted the Rosewater Dish nine times in 11 years between them.

But health problems, freak accidents and lengthy injury layoffs forced Venus and Serena to cook up a new gameplan this year and they have flown to Britain a week early to make their long-awaited return to tennis at the Eastbourne International.

“…Serena hasn’t played in a year and I have played three or four tournaments in a 12 month period so it’s crucial for us to play these key matches at this tournament and do this leading to Wimbledon,” Venus, who has been out of action with an abdominal strain since January, told reporters on Saturday.

“Normally after the French Open we go home to rest and train and that’s been the best for us. But this year the best preparation is to be here. As soon as I missed the French Open, I set my sights on being here,” she added.

While injuries have restricted Venus to playing only the majors for over a year, Serena has been sidelined since winning Wimbledon almost 12 months ago after she badly cut her foot on some broken glass in a restaurant. A life-threatening blood clot in one of her lungs further delayed her comeback.

With both sisters now fighting fit, Venus is delighted she can again terrorise opponents with her silky grasscourt game.

LONG ROAD

LONDON (Reuters) – When Katharine Rowe let out her sprawling five-bedroom terraced home in a leafy southwest London street to a top doubles tennis player during last year’s Wimbledon, she braced herself to come back to a house scattered with “broken things.”

Luckily her fears were unfounded but she did get an eyeful as soon as started taking an inventory of her rooms — left behind was a stash of foreign porn magazines.

“I was expecting things to have been broken but they were really good guests, which is why I’m happy they are coming again,” Rowe, a florist who will be going on a two-week holiday to Cornwall during this year’s tournament, told Reuters.

“When people ask me if they left behind any mementoes, the first thing I think of is that we had a few interesting (adult) magazines left behind. And a very nice towel.

“The magazines were left behind in various different rooms. Luckily my children are four and one so they didn’t register them. My husband thought it was really funny. They weren’t English ones.”

Rowe’s property is one of 250-odd houses Joanna Doniger has on her books at Tennis London — a short-term letting agency that specializes in renting out private homes within walking distance of the All England Club to players such as Roger Federer and the Williams sisters.

The firm was the brainchild of two women drivers who used to ferry players from central London to Wimbledon during the early 1980s.

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) – When Katharine Rowe let out her sprawling five-bedroom terraced home in a leafy southwest London street to a top doubles tennis player during last year’s Wimbledon, she braced herself to come back to a house scattered with “broken things”.

Luckily her fears were unfounded but she did get an eyeful as soon as started taking an inventory of her rooms — left behind was a stash of foreign porn magazines.

“I was expecting things to have been broken but they were really good guests, which is why I’m happy they are coming again,” Rowe, a florist who will be going on a two-week holiday to Cornwall during this year’s tournament, told Reuters.

“When people ask me if they left behind any mementoes, the first thing I think of is that we had a few interesting (adult) magazines left behind. And a very nice towel.

“The magazines were left behind in various different rooms. Luckily my children are four and one so they didn’t register them. My husband thought it was really funny. They weren’t English ones.”

Rowe’s property is one of 250-odd houses Joanna Doniger has on her books at Tennis London — a short-term letting agency that specialises in renting out private homes within walking distance of the All England Club to players such as Roger Federer and the Williams sisters.

The firm was the brainchild of two women drivers who used to ferry players from central London to Wimbledon during the early 1980s.