'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.

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"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.

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