Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark hits a return to Vera Zvonareva of Russia during their WTA tennis championships match in Istanbul, Oct 26, 2011. [Photo/Agencies] |
PERTH - World number one Caroline Wozniacki will break her grand slam drought this year and win a major title, former Australian great Margaret Court predicted on Wednesday.
Court, 69, who won a record 24 majors, said the Dane had beaten all the grand slam champions in other tournaments.
"I would say to Caroline, if you can beat them in all the other tournaments, there's no reason you can't beat them in the grand slams," she said.
"I think you get a bit of a thing about it, thinking 'I haven't won a grand slam' but the mind is a battlefield and she has to wipe these negative thoughts out.
"She can't look back to the ones she's lost. She has beaten all these other players and I think she will at a slam this year.
"If you look at the women's majors this year, there were four different winners and that means any of the top women are capable of winning one."
Wozniacki, 21, who received a caution on Wednesday before beating Bulgaria's Tsvetana Prionkova 7-5 4-6 6-2 in the Hopman Cup, described herself as a perfectionist who was constantly searching for the key to winning major.
"The Australian Open is only 1-1/2 weeks away and that's when we all want to peak," she said. "I'm a perfectionist and I am always trying to improve little things but the thing about tennis is you can never be perfect so every time you get on court, you want to be better than you have been before.
"The first few matches of the season are always tough but I think I am improving and finding my feet out there. A few more matches and I'll be playing a lot better."
The mudslide occurred at an iron ore mine in the Araltobe township of Xinyuan county, Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture, a spokesman for the prefecture's fire brigade said.