It definitely should be
Could this be appealed to umpire as hinderance?
WATCH: Ostapenko's return tactics unfair according to former pros
WTAThursday, 20 October 2022 at 13:30
Updated at Saturday, 16 November 2024 at 13:56
Jelena Ostapenko is a relatively controversial tennis player who has a lot of tricks in her book, and she employed one of those recently, one that might be bending the rules if not breaking them.
Ostapenko is known as a very good tennis player who, on her best day, is absolutely devastating to play against. She’s known to be capable of beating some of the best players in the world.
When things aren’t working, she can struggle a lot on the court, which is mostly due to her hyper-aggressive style of play. She likes to hit the ball hard and keep the rallies short. If she can hit a winner, she’ll do it, it’s just that sometimes those balls fly very wide and lose her the match.
In her most recent match against Eugenie Bouchard at the Guadalajara Open, Ostapenko did something that was deemed unfair by some. It was 1-0 for her in the third set of the match, and she had a break chance with an advantage on the serve of her opponent.
Bouchard missed the first serve, after which Ostapenko stepped inside the court to get a better angle on the ball. Shortly before Bouchard was to hit her second serve, the Latvian made several short movements on the court, creating squeaky noises, which, in fairness, can be a distracting noise.
Bouchard missed that second serve, which obviously meant that it was a double fault, and she lost her serve in that game. Ostapenko went on to win the set 6-1 to win the match.
However, former WTA player Pam Shriver asked whether her move could be considered a hindrance. Noted tennis coach Brad Gilbert responded that it very well can qualify as a hindrance: "It definitely should be."
However, the umpire didn’t react to the move, which ultimately means that Ostapenko got away with it and won the match.
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