Jelena Ostapenko was literally destroyed in the quarterfinals of the US Open 2023 by the young US star Coco Gauff, so much so that she yelled at her in the box: "Enough, I'm retiring!" The Latvian tennis player was defeated 6-0 6-2, losing the first set in just 20 minutes.
During a moment of frustration, the former Roland Garros-winning tennis player yelled to her box: “I'm retiring. I'm retiring. I don't want to play anymore!"
"I'm retiring. I'm retiring. I don't want to play anymore" — classic Penko to her box in the third game of the first set 😂 — Oleg S.
(@AnnaK_4ever) September 5, 2023
The words of Jelena Ostapenko
After the defeat against Gauff, Ostapenko said: "Today was not a good match from me. I think it's very difficult to recover from these night matches, because after beating the world number 1, I went to sleep at 5 in the morning.
You sleep maybe seven, eight hours, but you don't fully recover. All day, I felt very low energy. I thought today I would wake up and feel better. But honestly that wasn't the case." The Latvian tennis player then described the schedule established by the tournament organizers as crazy: "If I play a match, for example a night session, then I suppose that in one day I have to play at least at the same time or later, because you don't have much time to recover I think it's a bit crazy.
Even if you have a day in between, you still need to work out, do your own thing, do your therapies, and more. So I think the schedule was better for her, because obviously she played a lot earlier on the day that I played the night session.
Gauff? Honestly there were a lot of games where I had some chances and missed some really easy points, and I think my concentration wasn't there compared to the games I played. I think she was very nervous today. I honestly expected more from her today.
It seemed to me that she was under some pressure, because obviously playing at home is not easy, as I have already experienced myself. I think she maybe changed her tactics a little bit. She is a great player, she is still very young. But, as I said, the score is a lie."