Caroline Wozniacki’s Final Tournament Continues After Fake Injury Controversy At Australian Open

The Danish champion Caroline Wozniacki continues her final WTA run at the Australian Open 2020 after taking down Dayana Yastremska amid fake-injury accusations. World Number 36 Wozniacki was leading  7-5, 5-4 in the second-round match. Before that, the Dane recovered from trailing 0-3 in the second set.

When Wozniacki was pumped up in the second set with victory within her grasp, Yastremska suddenly took a medical timeout. Later the former World Number one Wozniacki condemned the Ukrainian for faking an injury.

“Obviously, she tried to break my rhythm,” Wozniacki shared in her post-match press conference. “At 5-4 I don’t think there was anything wrong, she was running just fine. That’s a trick that she’s done before and I knew it was coming.”

Yastremska’s coach Bajin voices out

Yastremska’s coach Sascha Bajin cleared out the air that she wasn’t faking an injury. She genuinely had some trouble with her leg. “Just to shut some people up and end this useless conversation. Dayana was really struggling since days with her leg, but since y’all are all doctors and coaches you know better than she herself or our whole team who’s working with her,” Bajin tweeted.

Just to shut some people up and end this useless convo. Dayana was really struggling since days with her leg, but since y’all are all doctors and coaches you know better then she herself or our whole team who’s working with her. #focusOnYourself

— sascha Bajin (@BigSascha) January 22, 2020

Instances to support Caroline’s accusation

Dayana Yastremska has taken prior ‘suspicious’ medical timeouts on multiple occasions, and her opponents don’t appreciate her unsportsmanlike conduct. During her first-round match at Brisbane International 2020, she was playing against Kiki Bertens. The Ukrainian called for a medical timeout and later lost the match in three sets.

When asked about the timeout, Kiki replied:

“Well, I played her three times and three times it’s happened, so that’s my answer.

In 2019, Yastremska was playing the Thailand Open final against the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. She was trailing by 5-2 in the final set. At that moment she called for a medical timeout and consequently, Tomljanovic lost her momentum in the match. Later Yastremska won 7-6 in the final set. Tomljanovic’s ex-boyfriend Nick Kyrgios tweeted during the course of the match:

That medical was trash ??‍♂️

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) February 3, 2019

According to WTA’s regulations, a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct can be given for the misuse of the medical time-out.

Caroline Wozniacki who is presently playing the farewell tournament of her career in Melbourne. She will face World Number 78 Ons Jabeur in the third round of Australian Open 2020.