Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko[2] (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles and world No. 4 in doubles.[3] Ostapenko became the first Latvian to win a Grand Slam in singles and in doubles (excluding mixed doubles). She won the 2017 French Open singles title, the first unseeded player to win Roland Garros since 1933, and the doubles title at the 2024 US Open with Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Ostapenko was born in Riga to former Ukrainian footballer Jevgēnijs Ostapenko (d. 2020) and Latvian-Russian tennis coach and former player Jeļena Jakovļeva. Jevgēnijs played professional football for Metalurh Zaporizhzhia in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia where Jeļena's grandmother lives.[6][7] Jeļena has one half-brother, Maksim, who lives in the United States. She was introduced to tennis at age five by her mother and idolized Serena Williams while growing up. She also started dancing at that age, going on to compete in the national ballroom dance championships of Latvia. At the age of 12, she chose to focus on tennis, but she credits her good coordination and skilled footwork to the years she danced competitively.[8] Ostapenko speaks Latvian, Russian, and English.[9][10]
Her legal name is Jeļena, but she is known to her family and friends as Aļona. When she was born, her parents' desired name of Aļona was not on the Latvian name calendar, so she was named Jeļena after her mother.[11] Latvian authorities however, have claimed that there were no restrictions in place at that time to register any name, and that there had been some misunderstanding.[12] Fans in Latvia and elsewhere had always called her Aļona, but the name was unknown in the West until her win at Roland Garros in 2017.[11] She uses her legal name professionally in order to avoid administrative confusion.[13]
At Wimbledon, Ostapenko defeated the ninth-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets (dropping only two games in the match and grabbing her first win over a top-ten player) in the first round,[17][18] before losing to Kristina Mladenovic.[19]
She reached the final of the Premier 5Qatar Ladies Open in Doha, beating world No. 8, Petra Kvitová, on the way. She was beaten by Carla Suárez Navarro in the final, nevertheless she rose to No. 41 in the world rankings.[23]
At the French Open, Ostapenko was seeded in the singles at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, but she dropped her opening match to Naomi Osaka.
At the French Open, Ostapenko, then ranked 47th in the world, defeated Louisa Chirico, Monica Puig, Lesia Tsurenko, and Samantha Stosur. She then faced Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. Ostapenko came from a set down to defeat her, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. She was the first Latvian female player to do so and first teenager in a decade to reach the French Open semifinals (the last was Ana Ivanovic in 2007), opposite Timea Bacsinszky on 8 June, the birthday of both players.[27][28] She beat Bacsinszky in three sets to reach the final, being the first unseeded female player to play in the final of the French Open since Mima Jaušovec in 1983 and the first Latvian player to reach the final of a major.[29] In the final against third-seeded Simona Halep, Ostapenko came back from being down a set and 3–0 to win her first professional title. She became the first Latvian player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament and the first unseeded woman to win the French Open since 1933.[30][31][32] Ostapenko also became the first player since Gustavo Kuerten to win his or her first career title at a Grand Slam tournament; coincidentally Kuerten won his first title at the 1997 French Open on the day Ostapenko was born.[33] With the win, she reached a new career-high ranking of world No. 12.[30]
Then, at the US Open, she reached the third round by defeating Lara Arruabarrena and Sorana Cîrstea,[35] before losing to Daria Kasatkina.[36] Her performance was enough for her to make her top-ten debut in the world rankings, at No. 10.
At the end of September, she won her second career title at the Korea Open in Seoul.[37] In the Wuhan Open, she beat Barbora Strýcová and Monica Puig to reach the quarterfinals, where she scored her first win over a reigning WTA number one, Garbiñe Muguruza,[38] extending her winning streak to eight in a row. She lost to Ashleigh Barty in the semifinal.
In October, she reached the semifinals of the China Open, losing to Simona Halep.[39] At the WTA Finals, she scored a win over Karolína Plíšková but lost to Muguruza and Venus Williams.
Playing at the Miami Open, she defeated ninth-seeded Petra Kvitová in the fourth round and fourth seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 7–6. In her semifinal match, Ostapenko defeated qualifier Danielle Collins to reach the final, in which she lost to No. 12 seed Sloane Stephens.
Ostapenko entered the French Open as the fifth seed, but failed to defend her title, losing in the first round to Kateryna Kozlova. Following the loss, she left the top ten for the first time since entering. At Wimbledon she beat Katy Dunne, Kirsten Flipkens, Vitalia Diatchenko and Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach the quarterfinals for a second successive year,[42][43] then beat Dominika Cibulková to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal, which she lost to eventual winner Angelique Kerber.[44] A left wrist injury caused her to withdraw from the WTA Elite Trophy, and she ended the season ranked No. 22.
Ostapenko's first tournament of the year was the Shenzhen Open where she lost in the first round to Monica Niculescu. She went on to play at the Sydney International, where she lost to Ash Barty in the first round. At the Australian Open, Ostapenko was seeded 22nd and lost to Maria Sakkari, again in the first round.[45] One commentator identified her tendency to hit a relatively high number of double faults, and frequent coaching changes, as contributing to her lack of success in 2019.[46] At the French Open, she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the first round,[47] but reached the quarterfinals of the doubles event with Lyudmyla Kichenok, falling to Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka.[48]
Ostapenko also lost in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships to Hsieh Su-wei.[49] Despite the loss, alongside Robert Lindstedt she reached the first mixed-doubles final of her career, though they lost in straight sets to Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig. During the tournament Ostapenko twice served a ball on the head of her partner Lindstedt. After Wimbledon, Ostapenko's ranking dropped to as low as No. 83 in the world; this was her lowest ranking since February 2016.
At Jūrmala, Ostapenko was defeated in the first round by Bernarda Pera, but she reached the final of the doubles alongside Galina Voskoboeva; the pair lost to Sharon Fichman and Nina Stojanović. At Toronto, Ostapeonko defeated Caroline Garcia and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach the third round, before losing to qualifier Marie Bouzková; in doubles, she and partner Lyudmyla Kichenok lost in the first round to Julia Görges and Karolína Plíšková. At Cincinnati, she was defeated in the first round of the singles tournament by Yulia Putintseva, and, partnering with Kichenok once again in the doubles, defeated Raquel Atawo and Han Xinyun in the first round, before falling to Lucie Hradecká and Andreja Klepač, the eventual champions. Finally, she had some success at the US Open where she beat Aleksandra Krunić and 2019 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Alison Riske, in straight sets, to reach her first Grand Slam third round of the season where she faced wildcard Kristie Ahn to whom she lost in straight sets. In doubles, she and Kichenok were defeated in the first round by Caroline Dolehide and Vania King.
At Zhengzhou, she defeated You Xiaodi in the first round, before falling to Aryna Sabalenka. At Seoul, she lost to Tímea Babos in the first round, and also lost in the first round of the doubles tournament where, partnering with Kirsten Flipkens, she fell to Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani. At Tashkent, she retired in the first round against Katarina Zavatska. At Beijing, she upset the second seed Plíšková in the first round, before falling to Kateřina Siniaková in the second. However, she went on to reach the biggest women's doubles final of her career at Beijing, partnering with Dayana Yastremska; they lost to Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. At Linz, Ostapenko defeated Tamara Korpatsch, Alizé Cornet, and Elena Rybakina en route to reach her first semifinal appearance since 2018 Wimbledon. In the semifinal, she came from a set and a break deficit to defeat Ekaterina Alexandrova in three tight sets. In her first final since 2018 Miami, Ostapenko faced lucky loserCoco Gauff, losing in three sets. At Linz, Ostapenko announced that she had added fellow Grand Slam champion Marion Bartoli to her coaching team.
At Luxembourg, Ostapenko defeated Caty McNally in the first round, and then defeated top-seeded Elise Mertens in the second round. She then defeated Antonia Lottner and Anna Blinkova to reach the final, where she defeated defending champion Julia Görges in straight sets, to win her first title since Seoul in 2017. By reaching two consecutive finals, Ostapenko managed to raise her ranking to No. 44, ending the year ranked No. 45 in the world.
2020–2021: First WTA 500 title, Olympics & fourth doubles title
Ostapenko withdrew from the 2020 Auckland Open following the sudden death of her father on January 3 at the age of 43.
After participating in the 2020–21 Billie Jean King Cup, where she lost to Serena Williams, but defeated Sofia Kenin before losing in the deciding doubles rubber to Kenin and Mattek-Sands, Ostapenko played at St. Petersburg, where she lost to Alizé Cornet in the first round, while struggling with illness and jet lag.[50][51]
Upon the resumption of the WTA Tour following the COVID-19 pandemic, she withdrew from all North American events. Her first match was at Rome, where she lost in the first round in straight sets to Magda Linette. At Strasbourg, she reached her first quarterfinal of the year, defeating Lauren Davis and Kiki Bertens, before losing to Nao Hibino in two tiebreak sets. She progressed past the first round of the French Open for the first time since 2017, defeating Madison Brengle and Karolína Plíšková, before falling to Paula Badosa. At Ostrava, in receipt of a wildcard, she defeated Petra Martić before losing to Ons Jabeur. Due to the freezing of the WTA rankings, she ended the year No. 44 in the world for the second consecutive year.
In May 2021, Ostapenko reached the semifinals in doubles at the Madrid Open with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeating en route the top seeded pair and world No. 1 and No. 3, Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens. Next she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament at the Italian Open, her first since 2018, by defeating Angelique Kerber. She had match points against Karolína Plíšková, but lost in a third set tiebreak. At the French Open, Ostapenko lost in three sets to fourth seed Sofia Kenin in the first round.[52]
At the start of the US Open Series, Ostapenko competed at the Canadian Open as an unseeded player and lost in straight sets to the also unseeded Kateřina Siniaková.[59] At the Cincinnati Open, also unseeded, she defeated Tamara Zidanšek in the first round and 13th seed Jennifer Brady (by retirement) in the second before losing to Angelique Kerber in the third.[60]
In late August, Ostapenko withdrew from the US Open for medical reasons. In September, she reached the final of the Luxembourg Open, losing to Clara Tauson in three sets. She ended the year winning the doubles title alongside Siniaková at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
2022: WTA 500 singles title, Major semifinals and world No. 7 in doubles
Ostapenko reached the third round at the Australian Open, falling to Barbora Krejčíková after winning the first set.
At the Dubai Championships, she defeated four Grand Slam champions — Sofia Kenin, Iga Świątek, Petra Kvitová, and Simona Halep — en route to the final.[61] In the championship match, she defeated Veronika Kudermetova, 6–0, 6–4. This was her fifth title, sixth final at WTA 500 level or above, and third final in the past nine months, after a title run in Eastbourne and a runner-up showing in Luxembourg the previous year.[62] She returned to the top 15 at world No. 13 in the WTA singles rankings. She and Lyudmyla Kichenok reached the final of the same competition in doubles, but Kudermetova and Mertens prevailed.[63]
At the Qatar Ladies Open, Ostapenko lost in the semifinals to Anett Kontaveit. She then lost in the first round of her next four tournaments (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Rome), losing to Shelby Rogers in consecutive matches. In Madrid, she reached the semifinals in doubles alongside Lyudmyla Kichenok, losing to eventual champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos. At the French Open, Ostapenko lost in the second round to Alizé Cornet, in three sets.[64][65] In doubles at the same tournament, she reached the semifinals of a Major for the first time, partnering again with Kichenok.[66]
At Wimbledon, Ostapenko reached the fourth round in singles losing to Tatjana Maria, after missing two match points.[67] At the same tournament, she entered the doubles semifinals with Kichenok, and the mixed doubles quarterfinals, partnering Robert Farah.
At the Cincinnati Open, she defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round, before losing to Madison Keys. In doubles with Kichenok, she reached the final, defeating Australian Open finalists Haddad Maia and Anna Danilina and top seeds Kudermetova and Mertens. The pair won their biggest title defeating Nicole Melichar and Ellen Perez.[68] As a result, Ostapenko made her top 10 debut at No. 9 in the doubles rankings on 22 August 2022, and reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 7 on 12 September 2022 after a third round showing in doubles at the US Open.
Ostapenko and Kichenok qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals, where they reached the semifinals.[69]
She ended the season ranked No. 18 in singles and No. 14 in doubles.
2023: Australian and US quarterfinals, win over World No. 1
Ostapenko became the first Latvian women's player to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, defeating top-10 player Coco Gauff en route. This was only the fourth Major quarterfinal of her career and the first since the 2018 Wimbledon Championships.[70] She lost to eventual finalist Elena Rybakina in straight sets.
In May, Ostapenko reached her first Italian Open semifinal, defeating Barbora Krejčíková, Daria Kasatkina, and Paula Badosa en route; this was her first clay semifinal since winning the 2017 French Open.[71][72] She lost to eventual champion Elena Rybakina, in straight sets.[73]
Seeded 20th at the US Open, Ostapenko upset defending champion Iga Świątek, getting her first win over a world No. 1 since 2017, and making her first quarterfinal at this Major. However, she lost to American teenager and eventual champion, Coco Gauff.[76]
Then, at the WTA 1000 China Open, she reached the quarterfinals defeating fourth seed Jessica Pegula, her 20th top 10 win.
2024: World No. 6 and historic US Open title in doubles
She reached the final at Adelaide by defeating Sorana Cirstea, Caroline Garcia,[77]Marta Kostyuk and Ekaterina Alexandrova. As a result, Ostapenko returned to the top 10 in the rankings after five years of absence. She defeated Daria Kasatkina in the final to win her seventh singles title and third WTA 500 overall.[78]
At the Australian Open, she reached the third round in singles. At the same tournament, she reached her first Grand Slam final in doubles with her usual partner Lyudmyla Kichenok, defeating reigning US Open champions and fourth seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, in straight sets. Ostapenko became the first Latvian finalist at the event.[79]
She reached her second WTA 500 final for the season at the Ladies Linz defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.[80] She won her second title of the season and eight overall defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova, her second win over the Russian for the season.[81] It was the first time since 2017 that she won multiple titles in a season.[citation needed]
She entered the US Open seeded tenth in singles, but was defeated in the first round by wildcard and previous two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka.[88] In doubles at the same tournament, she reached her second Slam final for the season with her partner Lyudmyla Kichenok, defeating Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva in the quarterfinal,[89] and then Veronika Kudermetova and Chan Hao-Ching in the semifinal also in straight sets. Ostapenko became only the second Latvian finalist at the event at the US Open.[90][91][92] Ostapenko and Kichenok defeated Kristina Mladenovic and Zhang Shuai in the final in straight sets to lift their first a Grand Slam trophy together, becoming the first Latvian and Ukrainian champions in women’s doubles at the US Open. Ostapenko became also the first Latvian to win a Grand Slam title in doubles.[93][94] As a result she reached a new career-high of world No. 6 in the doubles rankings on 9 September 2024.[citation needed]
Ostapenko and Kichenok qualified for the end-of-season WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as top seeds but were eliminated in the group stages after losing all three of their matches.[95]
Ostapenko is an aggressive baseliner, with an attacking playing style.[96] In a 2017 article, Steve Tignor of Tennis.com described Ostapenko's mentality as "See ball, hit winner."[97]Eurosport labeled her style as "risky, aggressive, fun tennis".[98]
Her forehand and backhand are both hit flat, with relentless power and depth. In a 2016 interview, Crosscourt View labeled Ostapenko's backhand her "strongest weapon"; the same year, Hartford Courant stated that she "hits a lot of forehand winners".[99][100] Due to her aggressive playing style, she accumulates significant numbers of both winners and unforced errors. She aims to finish points quickly, either with powerful groundstrokes or deft volleys. Ostapenko moves opponents around the court by aiming long strokes at corners and lines, and then changes direction to hit powerful winners.[101][102][103] After putting an opponent in a vulnerable position, she regularly seeks to end the point with a cross-court forehand, a down-the-line backhand, a swinging volley, or a drop shot.[27][104] Before her participation in the 2017 Charleston Open final, an article on the event's website declared that what was "most impressive about Ostapenko is her willingness to strike big to all corners of the court, be it a cross-court laser or a bold down-the-line winner."[103] One of her major weaknesses is a high error rate due to her high-risk approach.[27]
At the 2017 French Open, where Ostapenko won her first professional title, she regularly hit between 35 and 45 winners throughout her matches.[27][105] Following her quarterfinal performance, she attracted multiple comparisons to Monica Seles.[28][97] Ostapenko said in an interview at the event that "aggressive is my style of game".[97] After the final match of that French Open, analysts highlighted the differences between her performance and opponent Simona Halep's performance: Ostapenko had 54 winners and 54 unforced errors, while Halep had eight winners and ten unforced errors. ESPN's Simon Cambers wrote: "Fear just does not seem to come into [Ostapenko's] vocabulary... Her groundstrokes are simply massive, flat swipes of the ball that left Halep... grasping at shadows."[106][107]
Ostapenko serving during practice at the 2019 Sydney International
The major weakness in Ostapenko's game is her serve, which is highly inconsistent. Her first serve is powerful, being typically recorded at 106 mph (170 km/h), and peaking at 112 mph (180 km/h), allowing her to serve aces, while her second serve is inconsistent. Her second serve is hampered by nerves, and a frequently wayward ball toss, meaning that she double faults frequently. In 2017 and 2019, she was the WTA Tour leader in double faults, hitting 436 double faults in 2019.[108] She also frequently has one of the lowest first serve percentages on the entire tour; in her first-round match at the 2019 China Open against Karolína Plíšková, she served 25 double faults, and had a first-serve percentage of 49%, while still winning the match. However, after being coached by Marion Bartoli at Linz for the first time, her serve began to show some improvement, and in the final against Julia Görges at Luxembourg, she did not double fault once.
Ostapenko is the only player to reliably beat Iga Świątek, having as of May 2024 a record of four wins and no losses.[109][96]
Equipment
Ostapenko uses Wilson Blade racquets, but is currently without an apparel sponsor, having previously been sponsored by Adidas for clothing and shoes; and Nike prior to that.[110] At the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon 2022 she wore DK ONE, a Latvian brand.[111]
Coaches
Ostapenko is coached by her mother. In 2017, she also trained with two-time French Open doubles champion Anabel Medina Garrigues.[97][112] She parted company with Medina Garrigues at the end of 2017, taking on David Taylor – former coach of Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic – to coach her for the majors, with her mother remaining as her full-time coach.[113][114] In October 2019, Ostapenko partnered with 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli on a trial basis; their partnership resulted in Ostapenko reaching two finals in two weeks, and winning the title in Luxembourg. Bartoli announced that their partnership would continue into 2020, and that she would be Ostapenko's full time coach throughout the year. After a poor start to the 2020 season, and Bartoli's pregnancy, Ostapenko ended their partnership during the suspension of the WTA Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and began to be coached on a trial basis by Thomas Högstedt, the former coach of Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep. This partnership was not extended into 2021, and Bartoli began coaching Ostapenko once again in February 2021, following the birth of her daughter, at Doha. Ostapenko subsequently started working with Ukrainian coach Stas Khmarsky.[115]
Between 2016 and 2019, Ostapenko was the only player to have won a Grand Slam title (2017 French Open), but lost in the first round the three other times she had competed at the same tournament (2016 to Naomi Osaka, 2018 to Kateryna Baindl, and 2019 to Victoria Azarenka). This run ended in 2020, as she advanced to the second round, after beating Madison Brengle.
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