Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki have been struggling mightily over the past couple of months. The fact that they happen to be dating could be a reason for their poor performances or simply a coincidence. At one point, the young golfer and young tennis star were at the top of the world in their respective sports. Now, McIlroy can’t seem to make a tournament cut and Wozniacki has slipped to No. 7 in the world rankings. However, Wozniacki says her relationship with McIlroy has done nothing but help her.
“For me, it’s important to have a life off court,” she said according to the Daily Mirror. “Tennis is very important. I’m 100 percent focused when I’m on court and practicing. But it cannot be your whole life. You see some of the girls and if they are injured, it’s over.
“For me, if you can relax off the court, you can refresh your mind. I can go and play mini-golf and be fresh when I play. If you don’t get a good result everyone is ‘This is a disaster.’ I’m saying: ‘Relax, it’s not a disaster. I lost a tennis match.’”
The issue, she says, is complacency. Woz is only 21 and McIlroy just turned 23. They both have very long careers ahead of them, and having so much success so soon could have resulted in them taking their feet off the gas for the time being.
“When we started going out, Rory was in the top five in 15 out of 20 events and he got to No.1 in the world,” Wozniacki explained. “Obviously, when you have achieved so much at such a young age, everything maybe has come so easily. You realize sometimes: ‘I’m going to win’ so you take a bit of time off.”
That’s an honest assessment and there is probably a lot of truth to it. Woz also said that her “hunger” is back and she is looking forward to Wimbledon. After his latest debacle at the U.S. Open, let’s hope Rory feels the same way. Maybe he just needs to get back with the ex-girlfriend we all grew to love. Life was better for all of us then.
Photo credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE
