Wozniacki can lose her number 1 ranking and if she continues her recent form, she may be likely to.
Caroline Wozniacki, is the current world number 1 but if she does not improve on her recent form, her current stay on top of the women's tour may be limited. Either Vera Zvonareva, the current world number 2, or Kim Clijsters, the current world number 3, could supplant Wozniacki with the results from the 2011 Australian Open.
As of the January 10th, 2011 rankings Wozniacki, Zvonareva, and Clijsters had the following ranking point totals:
Wozniacki: 8035
Zvonareva: 6785
Clijsters: 6355
Those totals may fluctuate as the results from Sydney come in but as the WTA Sydney event is not a major tournament on tour, the changes should not be drastic.
Last year's Australian Open saw Wozniacki and Zvonareva each tumble in the 4th round and as a result they have just 280 ranking points to defend this year. Clijsters suffered a shock upset last season as she fell in the third round and as a result she has just 160 ranking points to defend.
All three of the world's top three players have significant room for growth at this year's Australian Open as the champion is awarded 2000 ranking points, the finalist 1400, and the semifinalists 900 each. With a title, there are scenarios where Clijsters will regain top spot on tour after a long hiatus while Zvonareva can earn the top ranking for the first time - a scenario that seemed highly improbable 7 months ago.
Wozniacki can protect her ranking, or at least make it very difficult to be supplanted, with a deep run even if she does not win the title outright. She will have to play better than she has already played to open 2011 however as the world number 1 recently dropped a match to Dominika Cibulkova, currently ranked 32nd on tour.
Also Wozniacki's exhibition straight sets loss to Zvonareva included a set that was at love and the other one was 6-1. Maybe the Australian Open will spark the Dane's motivation but tennis form is not a light switch that can be flicked on or off and things do not look great for the world number 1 at this precise moment.
