It’s Not Fine and She Got Lucky

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday, July 4, 2022

Tatjana Maria has endeared herself at Wimbledon for being a gracious competitor and an inspiration. As a mother of two, the 34-year-old moved into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon when she defeated Jelena Ostapenko, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in fourth-round action on Sunday.

But Ostapenko is not buying into the Maria fairy tale.

The Latvian didn’t give the German much credit for the win when she talked to reporters on Sunday at Wimbledon.

“Of course I’m really disappointed, because I felt like I was playing way better than she was,” Ostapenko said. “Of course it’s strange to say it when you lose a match, but in general I felt like I was missing a little bit here and a little bit there.

Jelena Ostapenko’s press conference was everything you would hope and expect.

Choice quote:

“I just made mistakes. She just collected all my mistakes, unforced errors, and that’s how she won today.”

— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) July 3, 2022

“She got lucky, she framed it, put the ball on the line. Then the chair umpire did a huge mistake on 5-All in the third set when it was breakpoint on my serve and I had no challenges left. People who watched the match, they texted me that it was quite big out.”

Ostepenko said she would have been fine with losing to a better player, but not Maria.

“All those small things together, they come and you can lose such a match,” she said. “Of course I’m really disappointed because if I lost against an amazing player who just beat me in a great match, but I just lost my match. I just made mistakes. She just collected all my mistakes, unforced errors, and that’s how she won today.”

Making matters worse for Ostapenko? She failed to convert two match points in the contest. She chalked that up to luck for Maria as well.

“She was so lucky, because one of them, I just missed by 10, 15 centimeters, forehand return on 30-40,” she said. “And the whole match she was like hitting those slices. I was just missing the ball. Like she didn’t really do anything today. She was just waiting on my mistakes.

“I also spoke to some ex-players and my coach, and the ball this year is bouncing much lower than the other years. So it was an advantage for her. I think I will never lose again the same match. I will just be stronger next time to not lose against such a player.”

“Code violation, Chair abuse, Warning Miss Ostapenko”pic.twitter.com/sJ2CuUedj9

— Set…