Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki has slammed a well-known tennis expert in her country, accusing him of bullying her throughout her career.
Wozniacki, who won the 2018 Australian Open, took to social media earlier this week in response to remarks made by Peter Bastiansen. A former professional player who participated in the 1987 French Open doubles tournament before venturing into another career within the sport. In an article published online by Danish newspaper B.T., Bastiansen questioned why Wozniacki hasn’t formally announced her retirement and suggested she should accept that she will never return to the top of tennis.
“I can’t understand why she doesn’t make an announcement. What’s the point in not saying something? She will never, ever return to top tennis. That race is over. Why doesn’t she just say it? There is nothing wrong or unnatural about that.” He said in remarks translated by Flashscore journalist Svend Bertil Frandsen.
“All big sports stars announce this, so I don’t understand it.
“I will fall out of my chair if she is ready for the Australian Open in January. It will be a travesty if she does. It will simply not be very serious. I don’t see why the organizers would bother to give her a wildcard.”
Wozniacki, who turned 35 earlier this year, is currently without a ranking and hasn’t played a competitive match since the 2024 US Open, where she reached the fourth round. In July, she gave birth to her third child, a son named Max Wozniacki Lee.
Since then, Wozniacki has been largely out of the public limelight with no comment made about the future of her tennis career. However, in an Instagram story post hitting back at Bastiansen, she isn’t ruling out another return.
“It is now 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,” Wozniacki wrote.
“Peter, you are a clown, and as a ‘tennis expert’ you should know the rules. It can be difficult to keep track of them when you have never played at a high level yourself.
“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.”
“After many years of hard training and top-level tennis, I have the right to do what is best for my family.”
“I don’t understand why TV 2, B.T., and other media continue to use his quotes when there are many, many better experts in Denmark.”
As for how Wozniacki’s statement has been received by other tennis figures within Denmark, some have been caught off guard by her reaction.
“I have to admit that I’ve actually never experienced this before with Caroline Wozniacki. I thought she didn’t care what people thought of her. And I definitely had the impression that she doesn’t read Danish media at all – but she does,” BT’s tennis reporter Jakob Kløcker commented.
“We haven’t heard anything tennis-related from her in almost a year, and then she just chimes in with this. It really surprises me,” he added.
During her career, Wozniacki has won 30 WTA titles and earned more than $36M in prize money. She first retired at the age of 29 in 2020 before deciding to stage a comeback three years later. Wozniacki is the first singles player from her country to hold the No.1 ranking and win a Grand Slam title.
