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Caroline Wozniacki’s 2019 is not off to the start she was hoping for: A year after claiming her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open, she suffered an early-ish exit in this January's tournament at the hands of Maria Sharapova, who is perhaps not Wozniacki’s favorite opponent on the Women’s Tennis Association tour to lose to. More recently, Wozniacki withdrew from tournaments in Qatar and Dubai due to a viral illness, which she says she’s gradually getting over.
Still, this year will almost certainly be an improvement over 2018, when mysterious flu-like symptoms derailed much of her early-season momentum. The culprit, as it turns out, was rheumatoid arthritis, which Wozniacki is now addressing with a modified diet and workout routine. We recently spoke with the superstar about her training regimen, her efforts to dabble in boxing, her abiding love for pierogis, and just how badly she beat her fiancé—that would be former NBA big man David Lee—the one time he had the gall to pick up a racket and challenge her.
GQ: How do you maintain your diet when you’re traveling internationally?
Caroline Wozniacki: Because we travel to the same places every year, we get comfortable with the city and the restaurants. We know what we like and where to go, so it makes it easier. We do eat out a lot. I’m not one of those people who’s crazy strict with my diet, but I do think about the best ways to fuel my body so I can perform my best. The best way to describe it is you can have a Ferrari, but if you don’t put the right fuel in it, it’s not going to go anywhere. I love to have good protein, and I need to have my vegetables and a little bit of carbs. A lot of times I eat chicken with broccoli and rice; that’s my go-to meal.
What about at home? Are you a big cook?
My parents live close by, and my mom is an amazing cook. A lot of the times when I’m in training, we’ll go have lunch at my parents’ place. She cooks very healthy, and it’s quick. After practice I can go straight over, eat, and then take a nap before my afternoon session. That’s the routine. Once in a while I’ll cook for dinner, but most of the time I’ll just order in for David and me. I love baking, so if I’m going to take the time, I’d much rather bake something and treat ourselves a little bit.
What’s your favorite thing to bake?
My favorite is chocolate cake, but I bake anything from breads to cookies to cheesecakes.
Are you a Great British Bake Off fan?
I love to watch that—what they’re doing is amazing. It’s art. I wouldn’t say I’m on that level, but maybe one day I’ll experiment and go into something more artistic, too.
For a tennis player, what’s the ratio between weightlifting and cardio?
For me, it was always more cardio, and then a little bit of lifting. But now that I’m older, I’d say it’s 50-50. That’s to make sure that my body stays strong and I can prevent injuries. I’m a big runner, but my body can’t take as much of the pounding, so I’ve had to cut down on that a little bit. Now I use the elliptical, the bike, the StairMaster—all sorts of things to get my heart rate up and save my body.
How did you curate your particular routine?
I play a lot of offense and defense together. I play long rallies. I’m not one of those players who plays just one shot and it’s either a winner or a mistake. I know that when I’m in my best shape, I grind the opponent down and tire them out, basically. So that’s why it’s very important that I’m in the best physical shape I could possibly be in.
Do you do anything outside weightlifting and cardio?
I’ve done a lot of boxing training. I started when I was 12, and my trainer is from Copenhagen. I don’t do as much of it now as I used to, but there’s still a few weeks where I put it on my schedule. I think it helps build my strength and cardio, because it’s a great combination of core and shoulders. The trainer is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but so brutal when it comes to killing you during training. But you can’t get mad, because he’s so nice.
Are there any other non-tennis activities you dabble in?
Boxing and running are the two main ones, but in general I love sports. David, obviously, used to play basketball, and his niece and nephew love to play basketball. We’ll play some with them and run around, which is so fun. I also used to be a good swimmer, so that’s something else I keep up with.
Have you matched up with David in basketball yet?
Yeah, I have no chance. He laughs at me because he says, “As great of an athlete as you are, you can’t jump.” That makes it slightly difficult when he’s so much taller and more athletic on the basketball court.
When he says you can’t jump, is that comparatively speaking? He is, after all, a former NBA player. Or can you really not jump?
I think it’s comparatively. He can jump so high, so I think he’s kind of comparing me to himself. But yeah, I wouldn’t say that’s my strength.
Have you put him in his place in tennis, though?
I have. When we first started dating, he thought he could beat me in tennis. I wanted to put him in his place early, so I would never have to hear any cocky comments. We squared that away. Now he actually plays pretty well—he’s been hitting balls almost every day. He’s much better at tennis than I am at basketball.
That’s nice of you to say, but also feel free to reveal what the score was when you two played each other.
He would probably kill me, so I think it’s better we leave that out.
Prior to the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis last year, were your eating habits or workouts affected while you were figuring out why you were feeling so lethargic?
Once I got a diagnosis, that’s when I was like, Okay, what can I do to make my body feel better? Because before that, I had no idea if I was sick or overtraining. The anti-inflammatory foods are important. I had to figure out which carbs work better for me. I realized that rice works better for my body than pasta, for example. I’ll still have pasta, but not as much as I used to.
I used to have red meat four times a week, and now I cut it down to once a week. Stuff like that has definitely been a big change. My body feels better. Stress can trigger the rheumatoid arthritis and make me feel worse, so that’s also why getting sleep and getting in that relaxed mode has been really important.
Did you have to make any long-term adjustments to your workouts after your diagnosis?
It was more so a natural change I was making over the last three years. I think it’s important, especially now, that I keep my muscles strong, because that relieves some of the stress on my joints. But at the same time, when I get a sweat going on the cardio machine, or go outside for a run, my joints actually feel better. It just kind of gets the blood flowing. It’s funny because when I take days off, I actually feel worse.
I swear by pierogis and know you have Polish parents. Are pierogis in your wheelhouse?
I love pierogis. When we go to New York, we used to go to Greenpoint all the time because they had all the Polish restaurants. Now there aren’t as many, but we still go at least once a year to grab some Polish food. But also, my mom makes the best Polish food, and pierogis are still definitely a top choice when I have a cheat day. It’s so good. We had it for Christmas, actually.
Is that the number-one cheat meal?
Actually, growing up in Denmark and being Scandinavian, our big thing is candy. Apparently, Scandinavian people eat the most candy out of anyone in the world. We have these “pick and mix”—sometimes they have them at the movies, where you have a bag and you fill it with different kinds of candies. In Scandinavia, the consistency of the candy and the flavors are so much better than anywhere else. I think that’s my biggest vice.
Is David the angel on your shoulder or the devil on your shoulder when it comes to healthy eating? I’d imagine since he retired, he’s got more leeway to slack off in that department.
He’s been eating super healthy, and it’s kind of annoying. When he decides he’s going to go full healthy, he eats protein and vegetables at every meal, every day. He doesn’t do cheat meals. Then he makes me feel guilty if I want a piece of candy or something else that’s sweet. So the last few months, he’s actually been a good influence on me, because I’ve been eating clean, too.
This interview has been edited and condensed.