All you need to know about French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko – Unseeded Jelena Ostapenko won her maiden grand slam trophy.
Jelena Ostapenko celebrating after lifting French Open (AFP)
Born: Riga, Latvia, on June 8, 1997
Grand slam career-best results: Australian Open: third round (2017); French Open: winner (2017); Wimbledon: second round (2015); U.S. Open: second round (2015)
* The 20-year-old became the first unseeded woman to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since 1933.
* She emulated the darling of Roland Garros, Gustavo Kuerten, by making the French Open her first career title — the feat the Brazilian achieved in 1997 on the day Ostapenko was born.
* The youngster launched an impressive tally of 299 winners from her fluorescent green racquet.
* Despite winning her first grand slam title on Paris clay, Ostapenko’s favourite tournament is Wimbledon.
MAKING HER NAME
– Born to former football player Jevgenijs Ostapenko and Jelena Jakovleva.
– She was introduced to tennis at age five and idolised Serena Williams while growing up.
– Ostapenko was initially coached by her mother, with her father serving as a fitness trainer.
– In July 2014, the then 17-year-old Ostapenko sealed a comeback victory to beat Kristina Schmiedlova 2-6 6-3 6-0 and win the 2014 Wimbledon juniors title.
– She speaks Russian, Latvian and English.
– Currently coached by two-time French Open doubles champion Anabel Medina Garrigues.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2012 – Played first WTA qualifying at Moscow; won one singles title and one doubles title on ITF Circuit.
2013 – Won two singles titles and four doubles titles on ITF Circuit.
2014 – She made her WTA tour main draw debut at the Tashkent Open.
2015 – First Top 100 season after reaching the second round at Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
2016 – Represented Latvia at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she lost to Australia’s Sam Stosur in the opening round.
2017 – Before entering Roland Garros, she came close to winning three titles this year, losing in the semi-finals at Auckland and Prague and the final at Charleston.
