Yelena Ostapenko shows great fighting spirit in her defeat against Garbine Muguruza – but she doesn’t make friends with the Ballkids.
By Florian Goosmann from Singapore
It would be very exciting to watch Jelena Ostapenko playing golf or poker. The Latvian patience is… how to put it? always just before tearing.
This can be observed in tennis itself, where there is no safe or at least somewhat neutralizing stroke in their game, but also between the change of balls. Before serving, you MUST be thrown a ball from the ball child to your right as well as to your left, otherwise it doesn’t work.
Here in Singapore, those Ballkids seem to be unfamiliar with this special arrangement. And so Ostapenko has to impart quite energetically with her hand, foot and racket that a ball is quickly rolled from right to left, which she can then be thrown to. I am an important person and you are not “,” Great player, no manners “,” Like so many tennis players I show no respect for ball boys and girls “, Ostapenko is also served directly via Twitter.
At the end of the match, she doesn’t seem to care about anything, maybe she doesn’t have a nerve for a third lesson for ball children, so that actually two balls from only one side are enough. And if you suspect that it could be 3-6,1-5 and Ostapenko wants to finish the match fast, it proves the opposite.
Despite a chase to 4:5 and defending against two match points, it’s not enough in the end. In contrast to the offensive offensive of Ostapenko, Garbine Muguruza has chosen the controlled offensive: 6:3,6:4, it is said in the end, it is a good victory for the Spaniard, who, like Karolina Pliskova before, plays courageously but not too wildly and serves well in the important phases.
According to Simona Halep, Muguruza thus retains the best chances of becoming number one at the end of the year, and in theory seven of the eight participants can still become number one.”I wanted to win so much, but she simply didn’t return,”said the very tidy-looking Spaniard after the game – and was aware of the danger posed by Ostapenko.”She has a lot of self-confidence, which makes her dangerous.”.
Ostapenko himself was frustrated, but still tried to evaluate her match:”I served well, but I made too many mistakes. Nevertheless, I am glad that I fought to the end,”she said. Above all, the course needs getting used to, all the more so as it was not possible for them to train on it today. “If I win the next two matches, I’ll still be in the tournament.”
The next match will be on Tuesday against Venus Williams – it should be similar in style to the match against Muguruza. Ostapenko still has a lot of potential for her tennis – probably in the way she deals with the ball kids.