'You Won't Be At My Matches!': Raging Ostapenko Threatens Umpire

'You Won't Be At My Matches!': Raging Ostapenko Threatens Umpire

by Sebastian Dahlman

Jelena Ostapenko's triumph over Daria Kasatkina came with a side dish of drama at the 2023 Italian Open in Rome.

The fourth round of the 2023 Italian Open took a heated turn when 20th-seed Jelena Ostapenko found herself at the center of controversy. The Latvian, known for her passionate on-court demeanor, clashed with chair umpire Marija Cicak over a line call during her match against eighth-seed Daria Kasatkina.

This particular event occurred during the second set of the match, with Ostapenko trailing 2-4, 15-30 on her own serve. The 2017 Roland Garros champion challenged a line call, which prompted umpire Cicak to descend from her chair and inspect the mark on the clay, something that caused a lot of controversies during this clay-court season.

Cicak's decision, that the ball was in, was met with a vehement disagreement from Ostapenko. In an attempt to escalate the decision to supervisors, Ostapenko was informed by Cicak that such intervention wouldn't alter the chair umpire's decision.

"They cannot help you with my decision. They can explain it to you later."

Cicak's response did little to quell Ostapenko's displeasure. The visibly frustrated 25-year-old Latvian fired back with a threatening remark towards the umpire:

"You will never be at another one of my matches!"

The dispute, however, failed to hinder the Latvian's winning momentum, as she ultimately secured a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals. Although she eventually lost the second set, Ostapenko bounced back in the third set. The Latvian steamrolled over her opponent in a 6-0 victory in the third set.

0 Comments

You may also like