Jelena Ostapenko was at the centre of an on-court spat in her doubles third round match on Monday, urging the umpire to discipline her opponents’ coach before roaring in their direction as she wrapped up victory.
The Latvian, who has become well-known for theatrics and outbursts during matches, reached the quarter-finals alongside Taiwanese partner Hsieh Su-wei.
They beat Australian-Taiwanese pair and 14th seeds Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching 6-4 6-4 in an ill-tempered clash, with Hsieh and Chan pointedly not shaking hands at the conclusion of the match.
The drama began when Hsieh approached the umpire during a changeover and Ostapenko pointed toward the opposing team’s coach, urging the official to intervene.
The Latvian said the coach had been clapping and shouting after their mistakes and sarcastically praising their shots in Chinese, which Hsieh translated for her.
“They do this because they know they cannot beat us,” Ostapenko told the umpire, calling the behaviour “very disrespectful” and asking for the presence of a Chinese translator.
After the umpire agreed to deal with the situation, the fourth seeds returned to the court and concluded a straight-sets win in an hour and 20 minutes.
They will play eighth seeds Elise Mertens of Belgium and Russia’s Diana Shnaider in the quarter-finals.
Ostapenko later told the Daily Mail: “I felt like it was a little bit too intense from their side. I understand every player has a team behind them and the team is supporting (them), but I felt like when we were on their side, they were doing this on purpose.
“You should respect each other, and that’s why I got so angry, and I started to (yell) ‘come on!’ so much. Because these kind of things, they pump me up even more. Then I’m saying (to myself), ‘I’m not gonna lose this match. I can die on court, but I’m not gonna lose this match.’”
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open singles champion, was also involved in a public spat with American player Taylor Townsend at last year’s US Open.
Ostapenko accused Townsend of having “no class” and “no education” in remarks which sparked accusations of racism, before she later apologised, saying her choice of words during the exchange had been misunderstood because English was not her first language.
Additional reporting by Reuters
