Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend have been one of the biggest talking points from the first week of the US Open.
Ostapenko has been criticised by Ben Shelton and many others for pointing in the face of Townsend after their match, and telling the American she has ‘no class’ and ‘no education’.
The doubles world number one appears to be taking it all in her stride, with Townsend seemingly making a dig at Ostapenko on social media.
This is not the first time Ostapenko has been involved in controversy, and now former Wimbledon semifinalist Sam Querrey has given an insight into how she is viewed on the WTA Tour.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesSam Querrey says no-one likes Jelena Ostapenko in the WTA locker room
When reflecting on the incident alongside John McEnroe, former world number 11 Querrey criticised Ostapenko on the Nothing Major Podcast.
In his criticism of the Latvian, Querrey claimed that no-one in the WTA locker room actually likes Ostapenko.
“Ostapenko is out of control. No-one likes her in the locker room, I don’t think,” said Querrey. “Townsend handled it perfectly, let her racket do the talking, she gave a great press conference at the end. At the end of the day she won and got the last laugh.”
While there is no way of confirming if this is true, a former top 20 WTA player has been critical of Ostapenko since the incident.
McEnroe then weighed into the conversation, claiming that he does not think players should have to apologise for winning in a point where the ball hits the net cord, which is why Ostapenko was annoyed with Townsend.
“I don’t believe you should say you are sorry when you hit a let cord in the first place,” said McEnroe. “Who gives a damn about that, that’s total BS. The only thing more annoying to me than that is when doubles players high five when they miss a return!”
While Ostapenko issued statements on social media, she is yet to field questions from the media after the incident with Townsend.
Players are requested for press conferences at the start of each day before play even begins, and Ostapenko was not.
However, the former Roland Garros champion’s tournament was not over there, as she still had to compete in the women’s doubles draw alongside Barbora Krejcikova.
After Ostapenko and Krejcikova lost in the first round, many were then expecting to hear from the player in the centre of all the controversy at the US Open.
That did not come to fruition, as the US Open released a statement confirming that Ostapenko would not be attending any media duties due to ‘medical reasons’.
Ostapenko’s next scheduled tournament is at the WTA 500 event in Guadalajara, which begins on Monday, September 8.