Ostapenko not happy about the US Open scheduling: “It’s a little bit crazy”

Jelena Ostapenko always speaks her mind. And so, in true fashion, she came to press and blasted the US Open scheduling after her loss against Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals. With 38 unforced errors in two sets and just two games won, “Penko” was clearly not happy about what just happened.

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“Today was not really a good match from me. I think it’s really hard to recover from those night matches, because after beating world No. 1, I went to sleep at, like, 5:00 in the morning, and still, you sleep for, I don’t know, maybe like seven, eight hours, but you completely don’t recover. Yesterday the whole day I felt very low energy.

I thought today I was, like, going to wake up and feel better. But honestly, I didn’t really feel much better. (…) Honestly, there were so many games where I had chances and I missed some, really, as I think, easy balls, and I think my concentration was not there compared to the other matches I played.”

Ostapenko never thought she was going to play so early this Tuesday, and was somehow convinced she’d play at night. But her plan got thrown out of the window and clearly, she was having a hard time getting over it.

“When I asked the day before, I was pretty sure I’m gonna play at night session, because that’s what they told me”

“I didn’t really feel physically very tired, but I felt like I didn’t really recover from that night. Because as I said, I got back to the hotel around, like, 2:00 a.m. and even I tried to go to sleep at 3:00 in the morning but I had all this adrenaline and it was impossible to fall asleep. Then when you go to sleep at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, the whole day where you need a few days just to recover. I think it’s a little bit crazy.

If I play a match in a late-night session, then I suppose in one day I have to play at least at the same time or later on, because you don’t really have much time to recover. Even if you have this day in between, but you still need to practice, to do your things, to do the treatment and stuff. So I think it was better for her, the schedule, because obviously she played much earlier the day I played the night session. When I asked the day before, I was pretty sure I’m gonna play at night session, because that’s what they told me.”

“Of course, I believe I can win another Grand Slam”

Despite this loss, Ostapenko still feels she has this second Grand Slam title in the realm of her abilities. “Of course, I believe I can win another Grand Slam. In general, I have to be happy with those few weeks and just move forward. But of course, I’m disappointed about today, because I really feel like I didn’t even play half of what I played the whole tournament.” She said what she said.

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