Jelena Ostapenko was at the centre of a heated discussion at Wimbledon after progressing in mixed doubles.
Ostapenko and her playing partner Marcelo Arevalo defeated Laura Siegemund and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the quarterfinals, but the drama continued long after the match.
It started when Roger-Vasselin made a comment at the net to Ostapenko, who was evidently taken aback by what he said.
The Frenchman then took his protests to the chair umpire, and was joined by his playing partner Siegemund in an angry argument because of what happened during the Wimbledon clash.
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Jelena Ostapenko tells Wimbledon opponents to ‘learn how to lose’
The controversy began in the tiebreak, when Siegemund received back-to-back time violations, was forfeited a serve and served a double fault.
It played a significant role as she and Roger-Vasselin lost the match 6-4, 7-6(9-7), leading to real anger from the pair afterwards.
The German questioned the decision to penalize her at a key time, saying: “On a point like that, maybe a little bit of fingertip feeling, a little bit.”
But she was told by the umpire: “You know at the Club we don’t have that,” to which she replied: “With the right players you have it.”
Her partner agreed, saying: “What do you mean you don’t? Of course you do.”
Siegemund also questioned Ostapenko’s timings, with the Latvian then chipping in with the comment: “Just take the loss a bit better, learn how to lose.”
Roger-Vasselin’s protests continued towards the umpire: “You did your rule, it’s a terrible rule, and you don’t understand that.”
And again, smiling through the ordeal, Ostapenko had her say: “It’s a very good rule, he did a great job, finally somebody’s not afraid to do that.”
Shocked, the Frenchman replied: “What?”
And his opponent said: “Somebody’s not afraid to do that when she’s taking like two minutes between serves, and before the serve. And everyone knows this.”
Ostapenko then claimed Siegemund was late with a lot of her serves, as she is in every match she plays, including in singles.
She noted: “I’m pretty much on time all the time,” before adding: “Sometimes I am not on time and the chair umpire warns me, and then I try to be faster.
Still annoyed, Roger-Vasselin continued: “But he didn’t warn us anytime,” before saying whatever happens with Siegemund in singles was not relevant to their match at Wimbledon.
What has happened in Wimbledon mixed doubles?
Delighted with their hard-fought victory, Ostapenko and Arevalo now meet Christian Harrison and Zhang Shuai in the semifinals.
The match sees the Wimbledon mixed doubles second seeds take on the third seeds for a place in the final.
In the other half of the draw, Marc Polmans and Storm Hunter will play against Mate Pavic and Fanny Stollar.
The biggest shock of the tournament arrived in round two, when top seeds Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori were beaten by Polmans and Hunter.
And notably in the first round of the event, WTA legend Venus Williams and Kevin Krawietz lost to Lloyd Glasspool and Tereza Mihalikova.
