‘Very disrespectful’: Jelena Ostapenko rages at opponent’s box before US Open win

A year after Jelena Ostapenko had lashed out at Taylor Townsend for having “no class” and “no education”, the Latvian lost her cool again at the US Open. This time, it was the coach of the rival team who she confronted mid-match before securing a spot in the women’s doubles quarter-finals with Taiwanese partner Hsieh Su-wei at the US Open.
Ostapenko was livid at the coach of Australian-Taiwanese pair Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching, approaching the chair umpire during a changeover and then gesticulating toward the coach, urging the official to intervene.
The Latvian claimed that the coach had been sarcastically praising their shots in Chinese while also clapping and shouting after their mistakes. Since Ostapenko doesn’t speak the language, Hsieh translated for her.
“They do this because they know they cannot beat us,” Ostapenko told the umpire, calling the behaviour “very disrespectful”.
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open singles champion, also demanded that a Chinese translator be present.
She and her partner Su-wei chanellised their anger at the coach into defeating the opponents 6-4, 6-4. Ostapenko celebrated the win by roaring at the opposing box while Hsieh and Chan did not shake hands at the end of the fiery encounter.
This is not the first time that Ostapenko has found herself in an argument in the middle of a match.
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It was at last year’s US Open, where she had caused a stir by an explosive rant against Townsend, stating that the American tennis player had “no class” and “no education”.
Ostapenko later had to apologise, saying her choice of words during the exchange had been misunderstood because English was not her first language.




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