New York (AFP) – Jelena Ostapenko was involved in a furious on-court confrontation with Taylor Townsend after being dumped out of the US Open by the unseeded American on Wednesday. Latvian 25th seed Ostapenko unleashed an angry verbal volley at Townsend following her 7-5, 6-1 second-round defeat. Townsend later revealed that Ostapenko had accused her of lacking “class” during her tirade.
“She told me I have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the US,” Townsend told reporters. “I said, I’m excited, bring it. I’ve never been the one to back down from anything like that. I just thought that it was really interesting. There’s no beef. But again, like you guys saw, I didn’t back down because you’re not going to insult me, especially after I carried myself a certain type of way with nothing but respect.”
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“If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well. That’s just the fact of the matter…it was unfortunate, but, you know, it’s something I can put on my TikTok.” Ostapenko said in a post on Instagram that she had been angered by Townsend’s failure to acknowledge a net cord in her favour during the match. The 28-year-old also accused Townsend of breaching etiquette by starting her pre-match warm-up at the net.
“Today after the match I told my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn’t say sorry. But her answer was that she doesn’t have to say sorry,” Ostapenko fumed. “There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was first time ever that this happened to me on tour. If she plays in her homeland it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.”
Ostapenko’s explanation failed to impress Townsend when she was informed of the Latvian’s remarks. “I mean, it’s sports,” Townsend said. “I feel like people have gotten a little bit soft. I’m not going to lie. It’s sports. People talk trash. You know, people say things. Whatever, people get mad. Everyone has a right to feel how they feel. The problem is, don’t push your expectations on me. If you expect for someone to apologize and they don’t and you get upset about it, that’s your fault, not mine.”
Ostapenko received words of support from world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who revealed after her late-night match that she had spoken with the Latvian following the incident. “I have to say that she’s nice,” Sabalenka said of Ostapenko. “Just sometimes she can lose control over her emotions, which is pretty tough. I’m pretty sure, looking back, she’s not happy with her behavior.”
© 2024 AFP
