Caroline Wozniacki began her clay season last week with a run at Stuttgart, where she fell to Angelique Kerber in the final. With Roland Garros less than a month away, the world No. 5 is motivated to reverse past difficulties on the surface. With a new coach in her corner and a sharp focus on improving her red clay results, she continues to work to become one of the favorites at the next major.

Wozniacki has an impressive resume that includes 23 career titles and the distinction of once holding the coveted world No. 1 spot. She was a finalist in the 2009 and 2014 U. S. Opens and earned championships at Brussels, Charleston, and Ponte Vedra Beach on clay. However, out of those clay court accomplishments, only Brussels was played on the red dirt, and her career-best result at Roland Garros is a quarterfinal appearance. In the three years prior to 2015, the Dane held a combined 8-12 record on the surface with no titles. Now searching for better results, the 24-year old recently turned to former world No. 1 and clay court specialist Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to coach her during the current leg of the season.

Sanchez-Vicario is certainly more than qualified to provide quality insight into the nuances of the surface. With three titles at Roland Garros and a career 19 championships on clay, the four-time Grand Slam champion is one of the all-time greats and appears to have already made an impact on the Danish counter-puncher.

Last week in Germany, Wozniacki fought past world No. 2 Simona Halep along with top-15 players Carla Suarez Navaro and Lucie Safarova to reach Kerber in the final. She appeared to be on her way to the title before the German made a comeback in the third set to snatch the trophy. And while the result was initially disappointing, the bigger picture looked bright after the tournament. Reflecting on her play at Stuttgart, Wozniacki stated, “At the end of the day, it’s been a good week for me, more wins this week than all clay-court season last year and the year before together, so I guess it’s not a bad week and I’m just looking forward to see what the next few weeks have in store for me.”

After her week in Stuttgart, Wozniacki returned to her current home in Monte Carlo, where she is training with Sanchez-Vicario in preparation for tournaments in Madrid and Rome. With the help of the Spaniard and an even greater understanding of the requirements on clay, she recently underscored her goals. “We've been working on more about the mentality going into the game and going onto the surface,” she said. “You have to hit more balls into the court, you have to run more balls down and change up the pace, and that's really it. My game really should fit with clay, but I haven't had the results I've wanted. I'm trying to do my best to change that.”

Looking ahead towards Paris, Wozniacki can use her recent success against the best of the WTA (with the exception of Serena Williams) as a confidence booster. She has split her four career meetings with Halep and was victorious in their only match on clay. Although she has lost her only two meetings on the surface against Maria Sharapova, she has a 5-4 career head-to-head edge against the Russian and has won their last two matches.  Likewise, Wozniacki holds the same advantage against higher-ranked Petra Kvitova and has not lost to the Czech on the surface. Although Williams does hold a decisive head-to-head advantage against the native of Denmark, three of their last four matches have been competitive three-set encounters, providing some optimism.

Certainly, Wozniacki has historically embraced goals to transform and maximize the potential of her game. However, to dethrone a player such as Maria Sharapova who has fast become a master on clay, these next few weeks will prove to be vital. With Sanchez-Vicario by her side, she will work towards Roland Garros with an expanded weaponry as she seeks a career-best clay season. And applying recent results as a barometer, Wozniacki appears to be on course for additional success on the surface, becoming an even greater threat in the weeks ahead.