Wozniacki to return to tennis 3 years after retiring, to get wild card entry in US Open

New York: Caroline Wozniacki, a former No. 1-ranked tennis player and the 2018 Australian Open champion, announced on Thursday that she is returning to competition three years after she retired to start a family.

The US Tennis Association said it will grant Wozniacki a wild-card invitation to participate in the US Open, which begins in New York on August 28. She also is receiving a wild-card entry for a tournament in Montreal that begins earlier in August, she intends to play in the Australian Open next January and hopes to represent Denmark at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Another aim: She wants to show women that it is possible to combine motherhood with a career.

Wozniacki, who turns 33 in July, has not played an official match since losing to Ons Jabeur in the third round of the Australian Open in January 2020. Wozniacki revealed a month earlier that her appearance at Melbourne Park would be the last of her career.

She and her husband, former NBA player David Lee, have a 2-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old son.

"Over these past three years away from the game I got to make up for lost time with my family, I became a mother and now have two beautiful children I am so grateful for. But I still have goals I want to accomplish. I want to show my kids that you can pursue your dreams no matter your age or role," Wozniacki wrote Thursday on Twitter.

"We decided as a family it's time. I'm coming back to play and I can't wait!"

She was No. 1 in the WTA rankings for a total of 71 weeks first reaching that spot in 2010 and earned 30 titles, including the first in Grand Slam singles for a player from Denmark when she triumphed in Australia about 5 1/2 years ago.

Wozniacki twice was the runner-up at the U.S. Open, in 2009 to Kim Clijsters and in 2014 to good friend Serena Williams, and reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows three other times.