Jelena Ostapenko is speaking out after a tense on-court moment with Taylor Townsend, arguing that her opponent was “very disrespectful” and didn’t follow certain match rules. The Latvian tennis player also pushed back against people calling her “racist” for the widely headlined exchange.
As seen in the ESPN-captured footage below, Ostapenko told Townsend “you have to say sorry” following the former’s win in the second round of the 2025 U.S. Open in New York on Wednesday.
“You have no education,” Ostapenko appeared to say at one point in the exchange, with boos heard dispersed throughout the crowd.
“It’s competition. People get upset when they lose and some people say bad things,” Townsend later said in a post-victory interview in which she also praised her opponent for “playing really well” earlier in the match. “She told me I have no class, I have no education, and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S. I’m looking forward to it.”
In a series of Instagram Stories updates, Ostapenko gave her side.
“Today after the match I told my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn’t say sorry, but her answer was that she doesn’t have to say sorry at all,” Ostapenko said. “There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was [the] first time ever that this happened to me on tour. If she plays in her homeland, it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.”
In another IG update, Ostapenko responded to the “many messages” she said she received in which she was called “a racist” in response to her remarks to Townsend.
“I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world,” she said. “For me it doesn’t matter where you come from. There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you, you can’t use it in [a] disrespectful way to your opponent. Unfortunately for me coming from such a small country, I don’t have that huge support and a chance to play in [the] homeland.”
Later, Ostapenko offered a “thanks” to “all my fans for your support,” adding that she will “come back stronger.”
Among the other tennis stars who were asked about the incident on Wednesday was Aryna Sabalenka, who called Ostapenko “nice” during a press conference following her own victory over Polina Kudermetova.
“I actually spoke to Jelena after the match but during our conversation I didn’t know what happened,” Sabalenka told reporters, as seen below. “I have to say that she’s nice. She just sometimes can lose control and she has some things in life to face and some struggles. … I was just trying to help her to settle down. [I was] someone she could speak to and let it go. I think she just sometimes can lose control over her emotions, which is pretty tough, and I really hope that one day she will figure herself [out] and she will handle it much better.”