The tennis player from Latvia remembered what winning meant and started the new season encouragingly for her fans, returning to the top 10.

But she was not ready to respect all her rivals. Ostapenko provocatively ended her match against Azarenka a week ago without shaking Victoria’s hand. So now beating a Latvian is a matter of honor for every Russian woman.

Kalinskaya pulled it off and forced Elena to make a difficult choice.

Conflict between two champions

After the long-awaited title, which Elena won in early February at a tournament in Linz, Ostapenko came to Qatar with the desire to continue her climb to the top. After triumphant seasons in 2016–2018, when the young tennis player won Roland Garros and reached the top 5 of the WTA rankings, her career gradually declined.

But at the beginning of this year, the 26-year-old athlete again reached the top ten. And in the third round of the “thousander” in Doha, on her way is the former first racket of the world Victoria Azarenka, to whom the Latvian lost all four previous meetings.

The match in Qatar was no exception: discouraging 0:6, 3:6, apparently, forced Ostapenko to lose control and infuriated the champion. The traditional handshake turned into the subject of long discussions, because Lena, instead of a palm, handed her opponent… a racket.

Elena Ostapenko / Photo: © NurPhoto / Contributor / NurPhoto / Gettyimages.ru

It looked like a thrown bone. The gesture, of course, offended the experienced Belarusian athlete, so in response she simply looked at Ostapenko with contempt and refused such a handshake.

Have you thought better of it?

After this conflict, some experts noted that the whole point is the ban, which was adopted at the state level in February in Latvia. Now Latvians are prohibited from competing together with Russian and Belarusian athletes.

However, Elena spoke, that is, she had already violated the formal rule. It took a week to figure out what was more in Ostapenko’s behavior, politics or resentment for the defeat. In Dubai, again in the third round, she lost to our compatriot Anna Kalinskaya.

Before the Australian Open 2024, few people had heard about the Russian from the basement of the top hundred, but at the first Grand Slam of the season she reached the quarterfinals. The 25-year-old tennis player started the tournament in the UAE in 40th position in the WTA rankings, Ostapenko was 9th.

However, this did not matter to Anya. Although the Latvian tennis player immediately made a break and led 3:0, Kalinskaya won back the gap in the seventh game and then again took her opponent’s serve. Losing 1:4, the Russian won the first set – 6:4.

Elena Ostapenko / Photo: © Robert Prange / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Ostapenko again started the second game with a break, but now she was unable to maintain this advantage for at least a couple of games. Anna immediately responded. In general, with an equal game, Kalinskaya made slightly fewer mistakes, which was the key to her success.

In the 11th game, Ostapenko made several mistakes, but the Russian, on the contrary, received well and earned two break points. It was possible to implement the groundwork immediately. Despite the crucial moment and the active play of Elena, who earned two break points, our tennis player did not allow her to return to the match – 6:4, 7:5.

The most interesting thing was what happened next: Ostapenko headed towards the net and… easily extended her palm to the Russian woman. What happened to Elena in seven days? Did she stop respecting the decision of her state or was the protest against Azarenka dictated by personal motives? Apparently, Kalinskaya simply made the Latvian change her mind.