By Franklin L. Johnson
© Natasha Peterson/Corleve

(October 3, 2010) In team sports, there's an old adage: defense wins championships. Caroline Wozniacki, whose family tree is rooted in soccer, is intent on proving defense can carry her to the top of tennis.

C-Woz captured her fifth title of the season in Tokyo yesterday and will surpass Serena Williams as the new World No. 1 if she reaches the Beijing quarterfinals next week.

Is Caroline a worthy No. 1 or a young player shrewdly exploiting the circumstances at a time when Serena is spending more time spinning hula hoops around her hips than hitting balls on the court?

Caroline, in my view, is still a work in progress and must improve her offense if she is to win a major title.

A note on the Tokyo final: it just kills me when the player head-to-head isn't mentioned prominent before a match. Elena and Caroline were tied 3-3 before their Pan Pacific Open final. I also can't stand it when the toss winner isn't announced. This is important information, but no one seems to care to inform the public about it.
 
The first set could be discounted because Wozniacki had a heating pad on her back between her shoulder blades. She endured a three-set bruising match with Victoria Azarenka and she was probably a little stiff and tender in this area. Her style of play doesn't portend a long career. It's hard to win by attrition day in and day out, but she found a way to outlast Dementieva.
 
I'm starting to get a better idea how C-Woz wins her matches. First of all, she's probably the most consistent player off the ground on tour. She rarely mis-hits a shot and she won't give you a short ball to work with, even under pressure. Her PUP Factor Poise Under Pressure) is very high. She changes speeds on her shots subtly and her consistent depth of shot makes it difficult to attack her.

I noticed Elena couldn't change the path of the ball up the line, especially on her forehand side. She kept on hitting the ball wide. This is always a problem when you're playing someone who covers the court as quickly as Caroline does and you can't go up the line safely. This forces you to play more up the middle which plays into C-Woz's hands. Caro uses natural Babolat gut, so I can't explain why it's so hard to get the ball up the line against her. The strings she uses aren't rough or grooved in any way.
 
C-Woz is hitting the ball harder these days. Every now and then she hauls off and clocks a forehand. You can tell from the sound of the shot. At 4-2 up in the second set, C-Woz made a big stink over a line call. The umpire said she hindered Elena by making a loud noise after hitting her shot which landed long. She asked  for the rules judge to come out even though she had no leg to stand on in this unnecessary argument. The ball was out whether she hindered or not. I thought this was poor sportsmanship on her part and it threw Elena off enough for C-Woz to sneak a win of the second set. Elena didn't say anything about these antics. If I was out there, I would've had some salty language for her on the changeover.
 
Elena faded toward the end of the third set. It looked like she was experiencing a left groin pull or some problem like this. She started to rush the points which led to a swift loss to C-Woz in the final set.

In the final analysis, Caro has won more matches than anyone on tour this year (54), but she's beaten top 10 players only four times. She's taken only one set in the seven matches she's played against Ree, Vee and Kim.

The Marshmallow Princess is a definite winner, but she still needs a bit more pop in her racquet to deal with the cream of the crop at the majors. It's very hard to win on defense alone.

Tennis Now contributing writer Franklin L. Johnson is a writer, poet and avid tennis player based in New York. He has covered professional tennis for three decades. His recent columns include Elena Dementieva Will Master A Major; The Revival Of Maria Sharapova; Why Roger Federer Fell To Novak Djokovic; Open Observations: Only The Strong Survive; Champs Can Sow Seeds of American Tennis Growth;  The GOAT Game Changer; What Do Roger Federer and Andy Murray's Coaching Changes Mean?; American Anthem Needs New Tune; Tomas Berdych Played Tame Final and A Case For Vera.