NEW YORK — US Open champions Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka were both asked about their thoughts concerning the verbal confrontation between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday, Aug. 27 that occurred following their match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Ostapenko ripped Townsend’s net-cord etiquette after her 7-5, 6-1 second-round loss to the American on Court 11, saying her opponent had “no class” and “no education.” The 28-year-old from Latvia did not attend a post-match press conference last night but instead took to social media to share her side of the story.
‘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 argument was that she doesn’t have to say sorry at all,’ she said. Ostapenko also denied being a racist after she posted her initial comments online.
Osaka, a two-time US Open champion, was asked about her initial reaction to the incident after her 6-3, 6-1 second-victory over Hailey Baptiste on Thursday, Aug. 28.
‘I mean, it’s really difficult to say,’ Osaka, the No. 23 seed, said. ‘I think obviously it’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority White sport. And granted, I know Taylor, and I know how hard she’s worked and I know how smart she is, so she’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.
‘But if you’re like genuinely asking me about the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said. I’m going to be honest. I think it’s ill-timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t know if she knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never going to say that ever again in her life. But, yeah, I mean, it was just terrible. Like, that’s just really bad.’
Aryna Sabalenka weighs in on Ostapenko controversy
Sabalenka, the world’s No. 1 player, has herself been in the spotlight when she has said some things post-match. After she lost the French Open final in June to Coco Gauff, Sabalenka attributed her defeat to the poor weather conditions in Paris and dismissed Gauff’s play.
She later apologized, and the two were actually seen on social media dancing together at Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
Sabalenka, the reigning US Open champion, was also asked about the two players and said she talked to Ostapenko after the match and at first did not know about the incident.
‘Well, I have to say that she’s nice. You know, she just sometimes can lose control. She has some things in life to face and some struggles,’ Sabalenka said.
‘I was just trying to help her to, maybe, I don’t know, just not, like, face it more in mature way, but I was just trying to help her to settle down and kind of, like, just was someone she could speak to and just let it go.
‘You know, I think she just sometimes can just lose control over her emotions, which pretty tough.’