Latvian tennis star Jelena Ostapenko and her Taiwanese partner, Hsieh Su-wei, missed out on the US Open women’s doubles semi-finals after losing to Elise Mertens and Diana Shnaider on Tuesday.
Leading up to the match, Ostapenko was at the centre of another heated US Open exchange on Monday, confronting an opposing coach after reaching the women’s doubles quarter-finals with Hsieh.
Jelena Ostapenko returns the ball to Tatjana Maria of Germany during the first round of the US Open tennis championships in New York on September 1. Photo: AP Photo
The fourth seeds beat Australian-Taiwanese pair Maya Joint and Chan Hao-ching 6-4, 6-4, but tempers flared after Ostapenko took exception to the behaviour of their opponents’ coach.
Hsieh had approached the umpire during a changeover and Ostapenko pointed towards 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 pair returned to the court and turned up the heat to seal the straight-sets win. Ostapenko then celebrated by roaring towards the opposing box while Hsieh and Chan did not shake hands at the end of the fiery encounter.
Taylor Townsend (right) greets Jelena Ostapenko during their women’s singles second-round match of the 2025 US Open. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open singles champion, has been involved in several on-court disputes. At last year’s US Open, she accused Taylor Townsend of having “no class” and “no education” in a verbal confrontation with the American. Ostapenko later apologised, saying her choice of words during the exchange had been misunderstood because English was not her first language.
Jelena Ostapenko has been involved in several on-court disputes. Photo: @jelena.ostapenko/Instagram
Here’s everything you need to know about Jelena Ostapenko.