Jelena Ostapenko sent an open invite to Lil Wayne after reaching the US Open women’s doubles final.
The Latvian has been partnered by Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukraine) for the tournament, with the duo knocking out Chan Hao-ching (Taiwain) and Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) in the semi-final.
It’s set up a mouthwatering final against Zhang Shuai (China) and Kristina Mladenovic (France).
And if things work out for Ostapenko, five-time Grammy Award winner Lil Wayne could be in attendance at Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch.
That’s after Ostapenko invited the rapper to Friday’s final: “He actually didn’t come for my singles [match],” she told the US Open.
“There is still the final in doubles, so maybe he’ll come, we’ll see. But I think the most important thing is to just enjoy it.”
It comes after the most unlikely of crossovers saw the pair strike up a bond, which was sparked after Ostapenko saw the 41-year-old perform live in Miami.
Lil Wayne had been performing at Drake’s ‘Big As the What’ tour in the spring, which Ostapenko was in attendance for.
But speaking about the event weeks later, Ostapenko told the Tennis Channel, she had much preferred Lil Wayne to Drake: “Honestly the part of the concert where it was Lil Wayne, I liked way better.
“I don’t know, I felt his vibe and music was so nice. When there was Drake, I was just standing, I was not dancing much. When Lil Wayne came out, I was like dancing every single song even if I didn’t know them.”
Remarkably, the musical artist responded to Ostapenko’s praise, posting on his Instagram story to 19million followers: “Thanks for da luv @jelena.ostapenko.”
It sparked a back-and-forth between the pair, which eventually finished with Lil Wayne revealing he’ll “have to pull up” to one of Ostapenko’s US Open matches.
He had little chance to catch the 27-year-old in action during the singles event, given Naomi Osaka knocked the world No.10 out in the competition’s first round.
But Lil Wayne will be given another chance to catch Ostapenko in action when she takes to the court with Kichenok for Friday’s final.
Ostapenko is a one-time Grand Slam singles winner, having triumphed at the 2017 French Open, but the Riga-born star is on the lookout for her first-ever doubles title.
She came close earlier this year after reaching the Australian Open final with Kichenok, only to lose to Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Elise Mertens (Belgium).
Content Source: www.express.co.uk