Wimbledon: Jelena Ostapenko as a bad loser against Tatjana Maria: "She was just very lucky"
Let's put it this way: She's not a good loser, good Jelena Ostapenko .
by Florian Goosmann from Wimbledon
last edit: Jul 04, 2022, 09:36 am
In the end she was just "here for the handshake": Jelena Ostapenko could hardly wait to leave court 1 after she lost her round of 16 match against Tatjana Maria after two match points in the second round . In the end, her chair also fell over, but Ostapenko made no move to put it back down and left the seat to a few boos - while the spectators before and after celebrated the winner, Tatjana Maria.
The French Open winner from 2017 had messed it up quite a bit with her forehand and backhand slice. The match ultimately went as expected, with Ostapenko pushing the pace, Maria slicing and patiently digging. The Latvian's game was of course error-prone, stretches with a few points in a row alternated with stages full of mistakes as soon as Maria managed to get the ball across three, four, five times. In the end, the Latvian made 57 mistakes without need - too many.
Ostapenko on Maria: "Just lucky"
Ostapenko did not show appreciation for Maria's performance, even a good two hours after the end of the game. "She was just very lucky in some moments to be able to come back," said the 25-year-old. She herself "played much better", which of course sounds strange when you've lost, "I just left a little bit here and a little bit there." Maria "had a frame ball here, then scratched the line", the referee made a completely wrong decision at 5: 5 in the third set when she no longer had a challenge available. "Something like that adds up and then you lose a match like that."
If she had lost against "a really outstanding player, in a great match"... but here Maria "only collected my mistakes, that's how she won".
Always this slice ...
Maria "only hit these slice balls" throughout the match, Ostapenko continued to growl, "she didn't do anything, just waited for my mistakes".
From conversations with ex-players and coaches, she also knows that the balls bounce much lower this year. "That was an advantage for her." In any case, she, Ostapenko, will never lose such a match again, she assured. "Next time I will be stronger to never lose against such a player again."
Oh yes, she will also analyze the game and come back stronger, she said - and said goodbye.
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