"Bullied and attacked me" - Caroline Wozniacki blasts Danish commentator over 'frivolous' remark about her potential tennis comeback

Caroline Wozniacki recently lashed out at a prominent Danish tennis commentator who questioned the former World No. 1's potential comeback to the WTA Tour. Wozniacki is currently inactive, primarily because she gave birth to her and husband David Lee's third child earlier this year. However, the Dane has neither confirmed her retirement from tennis nor a return to the sport.

In 2020, Wozniacki officially retired, but she was back in action in 2023 as a mother of two. The Dane produced glimpses of her past brilliance after returning to the tour, but in general, she struggled to get the kind of results that once helped her reach the summit of the WTA Tour's singles rankings and win 30 career singles titles, including the 2018 Australian Open.

According to Danish commentator Peter Bastiansen, Caroline Wozniacki, now 35, is well past her prime and should retire for good.

"I can't understand why she doesn't announce it. So, what's the point of not doing it? She'll never, ever return to top tennis. That race is over. Why doesn't she just say it? There's nothing wrong or unnatural about that. All big sports stars announce things like this, so I don't understand it." Bastiansen told Danish tabloid newspaper B.T. (translated from Danish)

He also ridiculed the possibility of the former No. 1 making another comeback, adding:

"I'll fall off my chair if she signs up for the Australian Open in January. It will be a travesty if she does. It will simply be deeply frivolous. I can't see why the organizers would bother giving her a wildcard." (translated from Danish)

Wozniacki subsequently took notice of what Bastiansen had to say about her, and the Dane, whose last competitive outing came at the 2024 US Open, lashed out at the commentator on Instagram. Accusing Bastiansen of having continuously vilified her in the Danish media for more than two decades, Wozniacki wrote:

"It has now been more than 20 years since Peter Bastiansen has bullied me and attacked my person in the media and talked about things he has no understanding of. Peter, you're a clown, and as a 'tennis expert' you should know the rules. It can be hard to keep track of them when you've never played at a high level yourself." (translated from Danish)

"I have the right to do what is best for my family" - Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki during a press conference at the 2023 US Open (Source: Getty)

Going on to explain that her protected ranking automatically allows her to feature at the big tournaments in women's tennis, including all four Majors, without her having to rely on wildcards handed out by events, Caroline Wozniacki continued:

"But I have a frozen ranking of number 71 in the world, which means I don't need wildcards to get into the big tournaments." (translated from Danish)

She concluded by standing by her right to take decisions about her professional tennis-playing career based on the interests of her family at large, writing:

"After many years of hard training and top-level tennis, I have the right to do what is best for my family." (translated from Danish)

Caroline Wozniacki's most recent competitive outing, at last year's US Open, was a fourth-round loss to Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Edited by Sudipto Pati