Wimbledon 2017: Jelena Ostapenko accuses opponent's father of coughing to distract her
Ostapenko managed to ignore the noise and eventually prevailed 7-5 7-5
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Your support makes all the difference.French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko accused Camila Giorgi’s father of deliberately trying to distract her during their frequently bad-tempered third round match at Wimbledon.
Ostapenko eventually won 7-5 7-5, keeping her hopes of a Roland Garros and Wimbledon double alive, but was angered during the match by noise being made in Giorgi’s box.
She felt that Giorgi’s father and coach, Sergio, was deliberately coughing during vital moments of the match, and scowled in the direction of the box before complaining to the umpire.
And after the match, she accused Giorgi’s camp of exhibiting unsportsmanlike behaviour.
“A couple of times they were shouting before my serve. I told the chair umpire and she kept an eye on it,” Ostapenko commented after her straight sets victory.
“I was just trying to focus on my game and to be on the court. It was just before my serve, somebody started to cough. I think it's a little bit unsportsmanlike. You're in such a high level, and the tournament like Wimbledon, a Grand Slam, I think people have to understand where they are.
“I was shocked because I think it was from her dad actually, or her box. I mean, the people who are in her team, they're probably very close to tennis. They probably have to understand how to behave during the points or before the serve.”
Ostapenko was forced to dig deep in her match against Giorgi, a 25-year-old from Italy who is currently ranked 86th in the world having reached 30th two years ago.
Giorgi, who was attempting to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon for the second time in her career, served for the first set at 5-3 but a double-fault and a backhand error allowed Ostapenko back in and she exacted full punishment by breaking again to win the set.
Ostapenko also fell behind in the second set, and lost her cool with her own coaching team — which includes Spanish WTA player Anabel Medina Garrigues — as she fell 5-2 behind.
However, the 20-year-old managed to regain her composure and held the next game, before Giorgi once again blew the chance to seize the initiative while serving for the set. Giorgi made her fifth double fault of the match before Ostapenko levelled the scores with a thumping backhand winner.
The Latvian went on to lose just three more points, and will play fourth-seed Elina Svitolina for a place in the quarter-finals.
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