“I was actually, like, flying in the cockpit,” Jelena Ostapenko said when she made her first trip back to her native Latvia after winning the French Open this summer. “When I saw the red carpet out of the plane, I was a little bit nervous. I didn’t really want to step out of the plane.”
Flights with the pilot, parades in her honor: Such is life these days for the sport’s newest celebrity. In June, after her earth-shaking win in Paris, Ostapenko was given a hero’s welcome in her hometown of Riga. Around the world her round face and wide grin were plastered across TV screens and front pages. The reaction was understandable. Not only is the 20-year-old the first player from her country to win a major, her expressive, free-swinging style has brought a breath of fresh, youthful air to a sport that has been dominated by veterans for the better part of a decade.
No year has been more veteran-heavy than 2017. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Venus Williams: All are over 30. Three are are over 35. Yet each of them has either won or reached the final of a Grand Slam event. It has been enough to make a fan wonder when, or even if, the long-delayed future of the game is ever going to arrive.
Enter, like a meteor, Ostapenko. If Federer’s run to two major titles at 35 is the story of the year, the Latvian’s equally stunning run to the French Open title, which ended on her 20th birthday, is a close second. When the tournament began, she was ranked 47th and had never been past the third round at a major; she was, to most fans, just another hopeful hard-hitter in a sea of them. By the time the two weeks were over, she was a star.
Ostapenko’s title had the feel of destiny. She was born the same day that another unseeded, unheralded 20-year-old, Gustavo Kuerten, won at Roland Garros for the first time. That year, in 1997, Guga survived three five-set matches; in 2017, Ostapenko won five three-setters. And like Kuerten, Ostapenko won with an unassuming swagger all her own. It was most memorably summed up in the way she played the last point.
After coming back from a set and 0-3 down against a heavily favored Simona Halep in the final, Ostapenko took her opponent’s offering and drilled a backhand down the line. The ball touched down in the corner and skidded past Halep; the title was hers. Margin for error? Who has time for that?
“I was just, ‘OK, I have nothing to lose,'” Ostapenko said when she was asked what she was thinking, or not thinking, on match point. “I’m just going to hit winner. Or if I miss, OK, I have another one.”
It was Ostapenko’s 50th winner, which balanced perfectly with her 50 unforced errors. Her high-risk, high-reward shot-making was like Homer Simpsons’ famous description of alcohol: "The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems." It’s also, according to many in the game, just what tennis can use.
“We need personalities, and she’s a personality,” said Chris Evert, who won the first of her six French Open titles at age 19 in 1974. “She’s feisty, she’s right in your face, but isn’t the new generation anyway?”
“There’s so many different adjectives you can use to describe the women’s side,” Tracy Austin said this summer, when she was asked what she thought the highlight of 2017 was so far. “But most impressive would have to be Ostapenko winning her first title ever. We’re talking about, no Internationals or Premiers, and suddenly she wins the French Open.”
But Austin also voiced the inevitable next question: Is Ostapenko here to stay?
“We’ve seen so many players have a great breakout event and then not be able to handle the pressure,” Austin said.
We’ve also seen breakout performances by players at the tail ends of their careers. In 2013, a 29-year-old Marion Bartoli won her first major at Wimbledon and hung up her racquets soon after. Ditto for Flavia Pennetta, who won her maiden Slam at the US Open in 2015, at age 33, and promptly announced her retirement.
The early signs for Ostapenko’s future have been good. At Wimbledon, she showed no signs of wilting under the weight of new expectations. She took the scrutiny in stride – “Of course there is more attention,” she said – and knocked off one of the WTA’s best in Elina Svitolina en route to the quarterfinals. Along the way, she revealed something scary about her French Open run.
“I was playing a little bit less risky on clay” than she does on other surfaces, she said.
The nature of Ostapenko’s game means that there will be downs along with the ups, and she started her US Open Series with first-round losses at Toronto and Cincinnati. But unlike so many other young players, she has the advantage of knowing that she can win a major title. On the biggest points of all, she knows she can think, “I’m just going to hit winner,” and then make it happen.
