"Could have been easily avoided" - Caroline Wozniacki 'frustrated' after made-up quotes about Simona Halep's doping case get attributed to her

Caroline Wozniacki has made it clear that certain quotes attributed to her about Simona Halep's doping case were not said by her but taken from a social media account pretending to be her.

In a recent column published on Sports Illustrated by Jon Wertheim, Wozniacki was reported to have come out in defense of Halep, urging fellow players to show respect to the Romanian before the final verdict is announced. Halep was handed a four-year ban by the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) after she had tested positive for Roxadustat at the US Open last year.

Taking to Twitter a few hours later, Wozniacki proclaimed that she made no such remarks to Wertheim. The Dane added that it was "very frustrating" to see the mistake, as it could have been easily avoided had the journalist contacted her directly.

"It’s come to my attention that @jon_wertheim posted, and since deleted, quotes and opinions from me about Martina Hingis and the Halep doping case. To be ABSOLUTELY CLEAR those quotes were NOT from me, but instead were taken from an account on Instagram that pretended to be me, and didn’t have the check mark," Caroline Wozniacki wrote.

"This is very frustrating because it could have been easily avoided by either calling me, or checking the accounts authenticity on Instagram. I understand mistakes can happen, but I just want to be absolutely clear that these comments did NOT come from me. Have a great day!" she added.

To his credit, Wertheim quickly acknowledged his mistakes and assured Wozniacki that the original story had been corrected accordingly.

"To retierate - The quotes attributed yesterday to @CaroWozniacki came from either a hacked account or an impersonator account… The story has been corrected to reflect this," Wertheim wrote.

Caroline Wozniacki then responded to that comment as well, calling out Wertheim once again for not doing proper research.

"This was NOT a hacked account. You simply did not do your research to see it was a fake account with no verified check mark on it! Very simple to see on Instagram!" Wozniacki said.

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Simona Halep has received support from other tennis players even with Caroline Wozniacki distancing herself

Simona Halep

Despite Caroline Wozniacki's latest revelation, Simona Halep is not without support from the tennis community.

Several players and coaches have sided with the Romanian amidst her four-year ban, with 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova being the latest to give Halep the 'benefit of the doubt.'

"I always wanted to give benefit of the doubt to the athlete. The drug thing stinks as it is the only court where you are judged guilty until you can prove your innocence. As an athlete- even if legal- with the side effects from this drug I can’t see anyone wanting to to," Navratilova said.