Jerena Ostapenko, 25-seeded costume for her US Open Second Round Match at Taylor Townsend, featured a flame at the bottom of her dress. Little did she know that the words would start to burn violently after the two players shook hands following Townsend’s impressive 7-5, 6-1 victory.
This is the conflict:
Another video of the exchange showed Townsend telling Ostapenko “you can learn how to make your losses better.”
And this is what Townsend told ESPN in a post-match interview.
“Yeah, I mean, you know, it’s a competition,” Townsend said. “People get upset when they lose. Some people say bad things. She says I don’t have classes, I don’t have education, I look forward to it to see what happens when we go outside the US. I mean, I beat her in Canada.
Ostapenko posted on her Instagram story after the match:
“A small update on the match,” she wrote. “Today, after the match, I told the opponent that she had a netball (sorry) very decided (in a moment) and that she was very rude (sorry), but her answer is that she’s absolutely sorry.
“At the start of the match, all players are supposed to start warming up at the baseline. The opponent came out and immediately started warming up (net) very rudely, contrary to the rules of tennis matches.
“Thank you to all your fans for your support. I’ll be back even stronger. That kind of situation motivates me to work even harder.”
Ostapenko, from Latvian, was later added to her story.
“The number of messages I received as a racist. I’m not a racist in my life and I don’t respect everybody in the world. For me, it doesn’t matter where you came from. When the crowd is with you, the crowd can’t use it in a way that is rude to your enemies. For the first time someone is approaching the match in this rude way.”
