Victoria Azarenka showed no signs of ending her feud with Jelena Ostapenko following their infamous clash at the Qatar Open last year. The former world No. 1 recorded a comfortable 6-0, 6-3 victory in the round of 16 in Doha, maintaining her pristine record against Ostapenko with a 5-0 lead in their head-to-head battle. But things got heated on the court when a clearly frustrated Ostapenko offered her opponent a tap of the racket instead of a handshake or embrace at the net after the match had finished. Her actions appeared to antagonise Azarenka, who turned away from her opponent and refused to reciprocate.
Reflecting on her confrontation with Ostapenko in a three-way chat with fellow pros Daria Kasatkina and Elina Avanesyan, the 35-year-old vowed to ‘act like a b***h’ to any player who repeats the Latvian’s antics. “I can say it’s not my problem, it was her problem,” Azarenka said on Kasatkina’s ‘What the Vlog’ YouTube channel. “I don’t know what she wanted me to do with the racket [tap] she gave me… she can put it in another place (laughs). I mean, who gives the racket in 2024? Somebody who acts like a b***h, I will be a b***h to them. I won’t start it [an argument], but if you want to play, let’s play.”
Their feud may well have pre-dated their encounter in the Middle East, as it came just a month after Azarenka called out Ostapenko’s conduct on the court last year at the Australian Open when it came to contentious line calls.
The world No. 26 had ripped into the umpire, calling them ‘blind’ and demanding that they never officiate one of her matches again.
In her post-match interview, Azarenka rubbed salt in the wound by tearing into her rival, saying: “I can’t speak for how she feels and why she does it. I don’t know. Some of the line callings, I mean, it can be a bit comical.
“I’m like, ‘Whatever’. What are you going to do? Sometimes we look at the lines and you’re like, ‘Are you sure it was in when it’s close?’ When it’s pretty obvious, then you maybe don’t argue as much.”
Ostapenko may have been sick of seeing the two-time Grand Slam winner on the opposite side of the court after facing her in three consecutive tournaments this year, from Qatar to the Brisbane Open and then the Australian Open.
However, that run ended at the Dubai Tennis Championships where both players bowed out of the tournament early.
Azarenka was thrashed 6-2, 6-0 by Iga Swiatek, while Ostapenko was beaten in straight sets by Moyuka Uchijima.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk