Rory McIlroy helps tennis-playing girlfriend with mental game

Caroline Wozniacki may be the top seed in this week’s Australian Open, but the world’s No. 1 tennis player looks to golf’s No. 3, her boyfriend Rory McIlroy, for help with some of the stress that comes with trying to retain her sport’s crown.
 Speaking to reporters Wednesday after reaching the third round in Melbourne, Wozniacki returned the favor to McIlroy, who talked in November about how much his girlfriend had done for the psychological aspects of his game.

"When Caroline and I might discuss our own sport, I am very interested in how she prepares herself for the mental side of big tennis tournaments like how she goes about setting goals or whatever," McIlroy told the Irish Examiner last year. "That sort of discussion gives me a good insight into how she deals with similar issues I might face."

Wozniacki, who despite her 65-week run atop tennis’ world rankings, has never won a major championship (losing to Kim Clijsters in the finals of the 2009 U.S. Open), and has taken heat for her inability to close the big deal. McIlroy, who knows a thing or two about rising from the ashes after suffering a humiliating defeat, has helped Wozniacki let go of yesterday’s meltdowns.

You're Schmoopy! Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki help each other overcome mental pressures on the course and on the court (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

"It's just about you can't really do anything about the past. You just need to look forward," McIlroy advised his 21-year-old Danish girlfriend, Wozniacki said. "You have a tournament now, and you want to do the best you can. That's it.

"Then if it goes well, it's great," she added. "If not, you have the next one. It's like tennis. So, you know, it's just important not to dwell too much in the past."

McIlroy could be the poster boy for coming back from a devastating loss. The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland blew a four-shot lead in the final round of last year’s Masters, only to rout the field two months later in his record-breaking, eight-shot triumph at the U.S. Open.

Wozniacki, who went public in July about her relationship with McIlroy, has tinkered with the reigning U.S. Open champ’s sport of choice. It’s a game, she believes, that lends itself to a more laid-back approach to competition (although the high-strung Rory Sabbatini, among others, might disagree).

"It's a completely different atmosphere. Over there when you're at a golf tournament, it's more relaxed and a gentlemen's sport, I think. People help out each other when they play with each other because they play against the course," said Wozniacki, who took up golf some three months ago. "It's up to them. They don't have really an opponent that they have to fight."

Wozniacki did acknowledge that competitive golf had its own set of pressures once you left the practice green for the course, and she had used that knowledge to her advantage on the court.

"Of course, you can learn a lot, because when you're leading or if you have a putt, you know, you make it nine out of ten times in practice, but it can be really difficult," she said. "If it's very important  it's just a good way to learn the mental state of things in their game as well, and in a way to also try to get some of it over to the tennis."

As for tennis buffs who believe they can just pick up a club and master the game from a physical or mental standpoint, Wozniacki had some words of wisdom from her perspective as a newbie to the game.

"You figure out that it's not so easy as it looks on TV. It's not just hitting a ball, standing still. It's a lot of mental," she said. "I think it's more mental than tennis actually. You do one wrong movement and the ball goes in the trees or somewhere and it's difficult. So definitely it has surprised me how mentally strong you need to be."

Wozniacki, who said with a smile that she tried to play golf, wields new Yonex clubs she received within the last few months. McIlroy served as a steadying influence on the course as well as with his sage advice for her on-court play.

"It's good when you have someone there saying, ‘Okay, remember these few key points,’" she said. "Then I can hit it far."

Sounding remarkably like a seasoned hacker, Wozniacki said the vagaries of her new recreational pursuit can yield some erratic play and maybe stir up some anger-management issues.

"Once I'm out there alone and have to start playing, it goes right and left and up and down. I get so frustrated," she said. "Feel like I just want to break the clubs and go home." (Charley Hoffman could surely relate to that.)

While McIlroy fiddles with tennis the way she does with golf, Wozniacki suggested it was best for their relationship if each went elsewhere for instruction.

"I think both of us don't want to [teach the other]," she said. "I mean, be too serious in the other sport. It's just for fun. Yeah, have a bit of fun."

Wozniacki must reach the Open’s quarter-finals in Melbourne if she is to hold onto her top spot. McIlroy, meanwhile, is preparing to start his 2012 season with top-ranked Luke Donald, Tiger Woods, and the rest of the the star-studded cast in next week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

McIlroy, by the way, is not the only PGA Tour golfer with skin in the game at the Australian Open. Bridgestone Invitational winner Adam Scott's on-again squeeze, Ana Ivanovic, is also in the field this week.