Moments after losing to Taylor Townsend in the second round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday afternoon, Jelena Ostapenko did what she does best: freak out and make a scene. The 26th-ranked Ostapenko has a history of not taking a loss well, and after getting completely blitzed by world No. 139 Townsend in the second set for a 7-5, 6-1 defeat, it seemed likely that she'd reprise her patented drive-by handshake. Instead, she held onto Townsend's hand for an extra beat, then argued with her opponent for a half-minute as the crowd showered her with boos.
Why was Ostapenko so pissed off? She hopped on Instagram shortly after the match and said, in a now-deleted series of posts, that she told Townsend she had been "very disrespectful" after she'd won a point on a net ball "in a very deciding moment and didn't say sorry." In tennis, it's typical for a player who benefits from a lucky bounce off the net cord to put their hands up in apology for their opponent to see it. This is more a matter of etiquette than anything else, though players do get mad when their opponents fail to acknowledge their good fortune.
Still, it's awfully rich for Ostapenko of all players to get snippy about class and decorum on the tennis court. She is well-known as a nuisance who will often end up in the middle of a tense exchange with an opponent. Journalist Ben Rothenberg asked fellow player Aryna Sabalenka, herself no stranger to on-court meltdowns, about the incident, and she said she spoke to Ostapenko and attempted to gently advise her to chill out.
"She just sometimes can lose control. She has some things in life to face, and some struggles. I was just trying to help her to face it more in a mature way," Sabalenka said. "I really hope that one day she will figure it herself and she will handle it much better."
After the exchange, Townsend took a few moments to celebrate her big win, egging on the crowd and pointing over at Ostapenko. When asked about the argument by ESPN, Townsend said Ostapenko told her she had "no class" and "no education." The Latvian player also told her American opponent that she should wait to see what happens when they meet outside of the U.S., which echoed another bit of Ostapenko's Instagram rant, where she said, "If she plays in her homeland it doesn't mean she can behave and do whatever she wants."
The match was reasonably spicy from the moment Ostapenko started to wobble. The big hitter leapt out to a quick 3-0 lead, although Townsend played her way into the match and began to consistently turn Ostapenko's power against her. Townsend hadn't made it to the third round of a major since 2019, though she is the No. 1 ranked doubles player in the world, and she showed off the craft and soft hands that got her that ranking throughout the first set. The moment Ostapenko referred to was at 5-5, when Townsend got lucky on a net cord bounce. She grumbled toward her opponent, then screamed at some pro-Townsend partisans in the crowd a few moments later.
After Townsend won the first set, Ostapenko all but stopped playing tennis. First, she took a lengthy bathroom break. Court 11 isn't near any bathrooms, so she went on an odyssey while Townsend jumped rope next to her coaching box and even walked laps around the court to stay warm. The mind games didn't work, as Ostapenko returned and quickly dropped the first three games of the set. At that point, she called for a medical timeout, prompting Townsend to once again keep moving to stay warm. Townsend won the next two games, then served it out at 5-1. Even the final game was delayed by Ostapenko making a futile challenge to a correct electronic line call.
In her post-match press conference, Townsend was asked whether she detected any racist undertones to Ostapenko's comments about her class and education. "I didn't take it in that way, but also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of being 'not educated' and all of the things, when it's the furthest thing from the truth," Townsend said. Ostapenko, in another now-deleted post, said she'd been getting bombarded with messages from people accusing her of racism, to which she responded: "I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world. For me it doesn't matter where you come from."
While her opponent flailed on the internet, Townsend was happy to advance. "The thing that I'm the most proud of is that I let my racket talk. Because ultimately, I'm the one here, sitting in front of you guys, moving on to the next round, getting the next check, moving on, being able to still be here and speak to you guys, and that's what's the most important," Townsend said in her presser. "She's packed up and she's gone."
