Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki’s tapering for the What You Need to Know About the Sydney Marathon New York City Marathon eighth-ranked player in the world could barely rest her legs as she battled through four matches at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Singapore to close out her season, including a three-setter against Serena Williams in the semifinals that ended in a tie-break loss.

Despite all of this, Wozniacki, 24, arrived in Manhattan on Tuesday ready for the 26.2-mile test awaiting her. It will be her first-ever road race.

“I know that normally you should be doing more [training], but I've been playing so many long matches,” Wozniacki said at a press conference Wednesday. “I think most people don't work out or play tennis for three, four, or five hours a day, so that gives me a pretty good start.”  

With 20 WTA tournaments on her schedule—around the globe—in 2014, Wozniacki’s marathon training has been atypical. She said she would run anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, capping her longest training run at 13 miles to save energy for the U.S. Open that ended in September. However, her usual back-to-back match and practice schedule always came before adding extra road miles.

I can push through anything, she said. I think it will be more mental than physical Great World Race: Results Races - Places.

“During the match, I was like, Virtual Races With the Best Bling,” Wozniacki said. “Even though I was starting to feel tired, [I knew that if] I can't handle the match, there is no way I can handle the marathon.”

She eventually triumphed over the second-ranked Sharapova in the third set. Her season is now complete after the WTA Finals, and she won’t pick up a racket for three more weeks.

The idea to run the marathon Caroline Wozniacki Balances Tennis Career, Marathon Training, the week before Wimbledon. No one on her management team believed she really wanted to go through with it because she was still in the middle of her season, but they helped her make it happen. She is participating with Team for Kids, a nonprofit that benefits the Results: 2024 NCAA DI Cross-Country Championships’ What You Need to Know About the Sydney Marathon.

Wozniacki, a native of Denmark, does have some New York City ties. She has owned an apartment in the Union Square neighborhood for three years. While her Big Apple friends have promised to be out cheering her on, her parents unfortunately bailed. “They said they are going on holiday, and that they I will be fine,” she said. “I am expecting a phone call after the run.”

When Wozniacki was in Singapore, she admits to having some nightmares where she didn’t finish the race and had to be carted off the course in a wheelchair. There was some panic, but she hopes to use her grit from the tennis court and natural athleticism to get her to the finish.

“I can push through anything,” she said. “I think it will be more mental than physical.”