The 21st century
Latvia · born Riga, 1997 · right-handed · French Open champion 2017, Wimbledon girls' champion 2014 and Wimbledon mixed doubles champion 2026
All playersBack to the rankings
2014
Wimbledon girls' singles champion, unseeded
2018
Wimbledon singles semi-final, her best result there
2
Grass singles titles: Eastbourne 2021 as a wildcard and Birmingham 2023
2026
Wimbledon mixed doubles with Marcelo Arévalo, from a set and a break down
3
Grand Slam events won: singles, doubles and mixed
Jeļena Ostapenko was born in Riga on 8 June 1997. Her mother, Jeļena Jakovļeva, a tennis coach, put a racquet in her hand at five; her father, Jevgēnijs Ostapenko, had been a goalkeeper with the Ukrainian club Metalurh Zaporizhya. She also took up ballroom dancing at five and chose tennis at twelve. In 2014 she won the Wimbledon girls' singles as an unseeded player.
In 2017, ranked 47th and unseeded, she won the French Open, beating Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final after trailing by a set and 3-0. She was 20, had never won a tour title, and was the first unseeded woman to win at Roland Garros since 1933. She built her game on hitting the ball hard, which she said nobody had taught her.
Grass suits that game. She reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2017 and the semi-finals in 2018, won Eastbourne as a wildcard in 2021 and Birmingham in 2023, and returned to the Wimbledon last eight in 2024. She reached No. 5 in singles in 2018. In doubles she won the 2024 US Open with Lyudmyla Kichenok, reached No. 3 in 2025, and in July 2026 won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Marcelo Arévalo, completing a set of Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed.
| Wimbledon girls' final 2014 | Unseeded, beat the eighth seed Kristína Schmiedlová 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 2018 semi-final | Reached her first Wimbledon semi-final after beating Dominika Cibulková; lost 6-3, 6-3 to the eventual champion Angelique Kerber |
| Eastbourne 2021 final | As a wildcard, beat Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 6-3 in about 65 minutes; the third wildcard to win Eastbourne, after Monica Seles in 1996 and Julie Halard-Decugis in 2000 |
| Birmingham 2023 final | As second seed, beat the top seed Barbora Krejčíková 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, converting her fourth set point in the first-set tie-break |
| Wimbledon doubles finals | Mixed 2019 with Robert Lindstedt, lost 6-2, 6-3 to Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan; women's doubles 2025 with Hsieh Su-wei, lost to Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens; mixed 2026 with Marcelo Arévalo, won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 against Storm Hunter and Marc Polmans on Centre Court |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Mixed doubles | with Marcelo Arévalo |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 2021 | Women's singles | |
| 2024 | Women's doubles | with Lyudmyla Kichenok |
| Birmingham | ||
| 2022 | Women's doubles | with Lyudmyla Kichenok |
| 2023 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Now I am Grand Slam champion in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles."
The person behind the player.
Riga
She danced competitively for seven years as a child and went back to it in 2014. "At home in Riga when I am there I try and go ballroom dancing four times a week," she told AFP in 2017. "It really helps with the footwork on the court. My favourite dance? The Samba, of course."
Source: AFP, in The Morung Express, 11 June 2017Latvia
In Latvia she is known as Aļona, the name used by family and friends. Because it is not on the official list of Latvian names, she plays under her legal name, Jeļena, to avoid confusion over paperwork on tour.
Source: AFP, in The Morung Express, 11 June 2017Paris, June 2017
Her first Grand Slam semi-final, against Timea Bacsinszky, fell on 8 June, her 20th birthday and also Bacsinszky's. "It's great to play here on my birthday," she said. Two days later she was champion.
Source: Kevin Mitchell, The Irish Times, 6 June 2017Paris, June 2017
Asked about her power after the final she said: "I always had the possibility I could hit the ball really hard. If I have a chance to go for a shot, I'm trying for it. Nobody taught me. It's just the way I play." She hit 299 winners in the tournament, more than any man or woman.
Source: BBC Sport; AFP, June 2017Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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