Jeļena Ostapenko is a Latvian tennis player, and the first (and currently only) player from her country to win a Grand Slam singles title.
📜 Jeļena Ostapenko History
Ostapenko was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1997, and began playing tennis at the age of 5. A promising dancer as a child, Ostapenko began to take tennis more seriously as a young teenager, seeking to emulate her hero, Serena Williams.
At 17 years of age, Ostapenko won the 2014 Wimbledon girls' singles title, and made her WTA-level debut later that season. A year later, the young Latvian saw more success in SW19, beating ninth-seed Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round of the ladies' singles draw. By the end of 2015, just over a year on from her WTA debut, Ostapenko was ranked inside the top-100.
Jeļena Ostapenko's most famous win came in 2017, when, ranked just outside the top-40, she won the Roland-Garros singles title. Her victory in the final, just after her 20th birthday, made her the first unseeded winner of the women's singles title since 1933. Moreover, it was Ostapenko's first WTA singles title - though she has since added to her trophy cabinet.
Ostapenko plays very aggressively, often opting to play flat, but attacking, low-percentage shots. Her most noted weapons are her incredibly powerful forehand and backhand, which can both be hit deep into the court, down the line, or cross-court. Her forceful shot-making is matched by her determined, competitive persona.
