US Open star accused Grand Slam chiefs of going back on their word before defeat

Jelena Ostapenko was left fuming after claiming US Open organisers reneged on their word about her match with Coco Gauff back in 2023. The Latvian ace, who lost in the second round at Flushing Meadows to Taylor Townsend this year, reached the quarter-finals of the event two years ago after stunning world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.

It was Gauff up next for Ostapenko in the last eight, and given her win over the Pole saw the match end just before midnight, she claims she was told her clash against the American would take place in the night session. However, the pair were actually scheduled to play at 12pm local time with Gauff defeating Ostapenko 6-0 6-2 before going on to capture her first Grand Slam title after besting Aryna Sabalenka in three sets.

Following her loss to Gauff, the former French Open champion lamented her lack of recovery after her win over Swiatek as she said: "I think it's really hard to recover from those night matches, because after beating world No. 1, I went to sleep at, like, 5:00 in the morning, and still, you sleep for, I don't know, maybe like seven, eight hours, but you completely don't recover.

"Yesterday the whole day I felt very low energy. I thought today I was, like, going to wake up and feel better. But honestly, I didn't really feel much better. I got back to the hotel around, like, 2:00am and even I tried to go to sleep at 3:00 in the morning but I had all this adrenaline and it was impossible to fall asleep.

"Then when you go to sleep at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, the whole day where you need a few days just to recover. I think it's a little bit crazy." Ostapenko said she was baffled by her 12pm start after discussions with the event's organisers left her convinced she'd instead play her quarter-final clash at night.

"The thing was that when I asked the day before, I was pretty sure I'm gonna play at night session, because that's what they told me," she added. "When the schedule came out, I saw I'm playing first match and was, like, wow, that's a little bit strange scheduling.

"Honestly, I thought at least maybe I play second where I thought our match will be interesting match and they would probably put it as a night session, especially she is from here. Yeah, when I saw the schedule I was a little bit surprised, not in a really good way.

"I mean, you never know with the people who are doing schedule, because sometimes you feel like you better don't ask anything, because sometimes it's working your way or sometimes it's working against you completely. It depends where and how it's gonna work," she said.

Ostapenko came in for mass criticism due to her reaction following her defeat to Townsend, where she jabbed her finger in the American's face moments after her 7-5 6-1 loss. The 29-year-old claimed in her post-match press conference that she was accused of having "no education" and "no class".

The Latvian did offer an apology for her comments as she denied that there was a racial component to her words. "I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match," she wrote on social media.

"English is not my native language so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court. I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a tennis player. Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year."