Caroline Wozniacki hopes for New Haven four-peat

Caroline's coming back to New Haven, giving me yet another chance to muster up the courage to ask for her hand in marriage.

Credit: Brad Horrigan

Just kidding. Kind of.

Here's the deal. She's won the last three Pilot Pen tournaments, and she's overcome some really tough opponents and matches in the process. But her rap, as you hopefully read in the story (if not, read it!) is that she's never won a Grand Slam. And she's No. 1 in the world. It's that giant, racket-wielding monkey on her back.

So she wins in New Haven, but not in the Slams. Concerned?

I'm not. Caroline just turned 21, and while that age isn't young and spry in professional tennis, it still gives her a lot of breathing room. Roger Federer won his first major when he was 22 at Wimbledon (TRIVIA: Beat Mark Philippoussis).

She's going to get her fair share of majors, although not the amount of Wimbledons that the Fed Express won, and not the amount of French Opens that Rafa won. She's a hardcourt player - she relies on court comfort and being able to unexpectedly bash up-the-line daggers on both wings. So keep an eye on her in the U.S. Open and the Aussie Open.

And in New Haven. Duh.

Extra, extra: two videos I shot of Caroline last year at Pilot Pen. Uno, battling Elena Dementieva in the semis. Dos, a press conference earlier in the tourney.