Caroline Wozniacki's grass-court comeback will begin at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham as a wild-card recipient, the tournament announced this week.
The former World No.1, who is not competing at the year's second Grand Slam at Roland Garros, which begins Sunday, is the 21st alternate to the main draw at Wimbledon with her current ranking of No.117. But her official main-draw return to the English lawns will come two weeks prior to the Championships: The WTA 250 in Birmingham will be played from June 17-23.
World No.10 Jelena Ostapenko, the defending champion, is the top-ranked player on an entry list that also includes 2023 finalist Barbora Krejcikova, British No. 1 Katie Boulter, former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova and 2023 WTA Newcomer of the Year Mirra Andreeva.
Nineteen of the current Top 50 are entered, and World No.52 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy is the last direct acceptance.
Wozniacki only played in Birmingham once in her career previously, in 2016; she lost in the first round that year to Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer.
🤍🎶 Sweet Caroline 🎶🤍
— LTA (@the_LTA) May 24, 2024
The legendary @CaroWozniacki will play at the #RothesayClassic in Birmingham this June! pic.twitter.com/np2VnW2OBh
A former junior Wimbledon champion, Wozniacki never parlayed that result to similar successes on grass professionally; in 13 previous Wimbledon appearances, she never advanced past the fourth round. Only three of her 55 career finals in the first phase of her career came on grass, and all three came in Eastbourne. She won that tournament twice.