Ostapenko complains about opponents’ coach during US Open doubles match
In New York, United States, Latvian tennis player Jelena Ostapenko complained to the umpire about her opponents’ coach during a US Open doubles match. Together with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei, she reached the tournament quarterfinals.
Victory in two sets
Fourth-seeded Ostapenko and Hsieh defeated the Australian-Taiwanese duo of Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching 6:4, 6:4. During a changeover, Hsieh approached the umpire, while Ostapenko pointed to the opponents’ coach and asked the official to intervene.
As Channel NewsAsia reports, Ostapenko said the coach applauded and shouted after errors by their pair, and also sarcastically praised their shots in Chinese. According to her, Hsieh translated these remarks for her.
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Appeal to the umpire
Ostapenko told the umpire that her opponents were behaving this way because they could not beat them. She described the coach’s behavior as very disrespectful and asked for a Chinese interpreter to be brought in.
After the umpire agreed to look into the situation, Ostapenko and Hsieh went on to win the match in two sets. After the match ended, Ostapenko shouted toward the opponents’ box, while Hsieh and Chan did not shake hands.
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open singles champion, has previously been involved in disputes on court. At last year’s US Open, she had a verbal altercation with American Taylor Townsend and later apologized for her words, explaining that English is not her native language.
