Caroline Wozniacki came to Dubai to experience snow.
The former No. 1 world tennis champion, and a Dubai Duty Free Ambassador, Wozniacki is in the city for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. She arrived at Ski Dubai on Saturday afternoon, however, to kick back, relax and film a promotional video for DDF Full of Surprises Travel Show in sub-zero weather. The star was dressed for comfort in a long-sleeved grey shirt and a pair of animal print jeans, ready for a day of activity off-the-court.
After gearing up in the bulky red, blue and white Ski Dubai snowsuit — and a pair of heavy-duty pink-and-white gloves — Wozniacki became a woman on a mission, and that mission was a serious one: to meet some penguins.
First, the tennis star was led to a giant sculpture of an ice dragon that seemed to be frozen mid-attack, its claws slicing through the air threateningly. Wozniacki grinned as she took a seat on the bench below it, and before all the professional photographers could begin snapping away, she passed her iPhone to one of the ladies surrounding her to take a picture for her personal Dubai scrapbook — one that she seemed eager to add to with each stop she made.
“Dubai has everything. You can even go skiing. The malls are amazing, the restaurants are great, and it’s just impressive to see that all the buildings are still building, you know? It’s changing so much all the time,” she said.
And one thing Dubai has to offer is a chance to interact with Antarctic penguins, an experience that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
Pumpkin and Pie
Wozniacki looked cautious as a trainer introduced her to three of the main black, white and yellow birds — a married pair by the names of Pumpkin and Pie, and a youngin that goes by Mitty. She listened carefully as the trainer listed off some facts about them. For instance, they have to DNA test penguins to figure out their sex. More sweetly, the male penguins propose to female penguins by presenting them with stone after stone until the female is satisfied with their offerings. The female then stows the winning stone away and the two become mated for life.
Wozniacki nodded along throughout these teachings, watching as the penguins wobbled around her carelessly, undeterred by the half-a-dozen professional cameras that were suddenly surrounding them.
“We need some pictures of this. They’re not gonna eat me?” Wozniacki asked, earning a chuckle from the room as she settled down on a bench in the Encounter Area — a small space kept at four or five degrees below zero Celsius. She watched as the penguins obeyed orders to jump up and flank her on either side. “Is there a certain way I can touch them? Their head, or…?”
The trainers, endeared by Wozniacki’s hesitance, instructed her to rub their backs gently and ensured her that they wouldn’t eat her. She finally touched the penguin to her right and spoke directly to it: “You’re so soft.” She didn’t expect the large birds to feel that way, she explained, having failed to consider the fact that even penguins must have feathers.
The penguins seemed less interested in devouring their human visitors and more interested in the fish rewards they were given after each command they obeyed. For instance, they were rewarded after they jumped back down from the bench once Wozniacki had enough pictures taken with them, landing heavily on their feet and gobbling away at their treat. Wozniacki was caught off-guard by the sound the penguins made when they hit the ground, asking how much they weigh; around 6 kilos, according to their trainers, which is why they can’t fly.
“They’ve got big feet, don’t they?” Wozniacki observed further as the penguins swayed from side-to-side. “I read somewhere that they have long legs.”
Unlike humans, the instructor explained, the penguins can’t bend their knees, which is why they appear to walk funny, attempting to balance themselves by spreading their flippers wide open.
Animal lover
“Definitely not what I’d expected,” Wozniacki told tabloid! She had the opportunity to hold the penguins by their bellies and press kisses to the backs of their heads, and said she was happy to interact with them as long as they didn’t “poke her eyes out” with their beaks. She’s an animal person, after all, and she even has a dog named Bruno waiting for her at home.
“I thought they would be more aggressive,” she’d confessed. “It’s a lot different. It was really a lot of fun — I got to learn so much.”
As happy as she was over the penguin meet-and-greet, however, Wozniacki was just as glad for the few moments after when she was allowed to leave the cold, taking the escalator to her next destination and rubbing her gloves together.
“It’s nice just to warm the hands a little bit, for a couple of minutes,” she said, sounding out of breath. Was the Danish player used to the cold? “Not really, we usually play in the warm weather.”
The reprieve didn’t last long as Wozniacki stepped out onto the snowy hills of the indoor ski area moments later, ready to tackle her next activity — something a bit more physical.
“After tennis, I enjoy doing all different kinds of sports, I like football, I like golf, I like to keep myself active,” she admitted; her boyfriend, professional golfer Rory McIlroy, might have something to do with that. “And I do a lot of gym sessions, as well. It’s important.”
Experience on zip line
It was Wozniacki’s first time experiencing Ski Dubai from the inside; she usually just watches it from afar, she explained. She wasn’t strapping into a snowboard or a pair of skis herself just yet, but she was stepping into a harness so she could experience one of the spot’s newest attractions — the Snow Bullet, the world’s first indoor sub-zero zip line.
A chairlift carried Wozniacki and a few photographers and videographers up 16 metres to a mid-station which acted as the starting point for the ride. (As she waited her turn, Wozniacki went to buy a Dh10 cookie, but found that she had forgotten her wallet — it wasn’t a problem, of course; more than one person was happy to dig into their own pockets upon overhearing her dilemma.)
After a bit of a wait — and a filmed interview — Wozniacki was finally sent down the ride with a small camera strapped to her helmet, catching her smiling reactions as she flew 150 metres over the skiers below, even thrusting her arms out by her sides courageously as if to say, “Look, mom, no hands!”
It only seemed to last a second before she came to a sudden stop on the other side, pulling free of the harness at her landing point. How was it?
“Good!” she exclaimed, recovering from the inevitable adrenalin rush with her cheeks gone red from the temperature. “That was fun. I was a little nervous when I was on top. It was a little scary, but it was fun — I enjoyed it. I even got the confidence at the end to do the thing with my hands.”
The star was jittery, jumping from foot-to-foot and muttering about how cold she was, but she was more than happy to pose smilingly with a few staff members before dashing off to get changed and enjoy a hot chocolate. Now that the fun part of her visit is over, what challenges was she anticipating on the court?
“It’s gonna be a tough one. So many good players are here, there are no easy matches,” she said. “But I’m excited about it.”
