Caroline Wozniacki fires accusation at TV pundit in angry reply amid Australian Open row.

Former Australian Open champion and world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki has hit out at television pundit Peter Bastiansen.

Former world No 1 and Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki has hit out at television pundit Peter Bastiansen over pointed comments made about her potential retirement. The Dane has not played professional tennis since losing to Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in the 2024 US Open.

The 35-year-old initially announced her retirement from tennis after the 2020 Australian Open – a tournament which saw her claim her one and only grand slam title in 2018. But in 2023, following the birth of both her daughter Olivia, four, and son James, three, Wozniacki returned to court – announcing her decision that summer in a personal essay written for Vogue.

The WTA star enjoyed several strong performances, making the fourth round of the US Open both that year and in 2024. She also reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells – a tournament often dubbed ‘the fifth grand slam’.

Wozniacki gave birth to her third child with her former NBA player husband David Lee in July. She has issued no public statement about her return to tennis after over a year out of the game since losing to Haddad Maia in September 2024, and that silence has now been criticised by former Danish player Bastiansen.

“I can’t understand why she doesn’t announce it,” he told Danish outlet B.T. “I mean, what’s the point of not doing so?

“She’s never, ever coming back to top-level tennis. That ship has sailed. Why doesn’t she just say it? There’s nothing wrong or unnatural about that. All great sports stars make such announcements, so I just don’t get it.”

Bastiansen added that he would ‘fall off his chair’ if she played Down Under. He said: “It would be a parody if she did. It would be deeply unserious. I can’t see why the organisers would even bother to give her a wildcard.”