Latvian tennis player Elena Ostapenko: biography and sports career

Elena Ostapenko is the most promising young tennis player in Latvia. At its 19 years already managed to win 7 ITF tournaments in singles and 8 in the doubles.

Biographical information

Elena Ostapenko, photo of which is presented in the article, was born in June 1997 in Riga. Her mother was engaged in tennis at a semi-professional level, and then went to coaches. For this reason Elena from the earliest years spent a lot of time in the immediate vicinity near the courts.

Already in 3 years the girl first took a racket in her hands, and two years later began to seriously train.

Junior career

The first successes came to the Latvian athlete at the age of thirteen. First, Elena Ostapenko won singles in the national junior competition, and a few months later she became the triumphant of the prestigious youth tournament Les Petits As, held in the French Tabré.

2011 brought new achievements for the young tennis player. In a duet with Russian Sinyakova, she managed to break into the semi-finals of the G1 tournament, which was held in Bradenton (USA).

In January 2012, Elena Ostapenko first took part in the junior Australian Open. Unfortunately, at this tournament the 15-year-old Latvian was not able to show high results.

In 2013, Ostapenko for the first time managed to break into the quarterfinals of the Junior Grand Slam tournament. In addition, she won at several G1 events.

The following year Elena became the first Latvian who won in one of the Junior Grand Slam tournaments. On the courts of Wimbildon Ostapenko performed just superbly, confidently defeating all of their peers. In addition to this achievement, a doubles tennis player won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics.

These figures allowed Elena to break into the top 10 rating, and in August 2014 to get in the top three of the juniors of the world.

Professional career

In the winter of 2012, 15-year-old Elena Ostapenko took part for the first time in adult competitions. Gradually increasing the skill and confidence in their abilities, the young tennis player began to win in the low-budget ITF tournaments, both in singles and in doubles. By May 2015 Ostapenko took 165 place in the Top-200.

In parallel with participation in various tournaments, Elena already at 16 years represented her country in the Fed Cup. With its help in 2013, the Latvian national team won in its group and rose to a more representative division.

At the age of 18 Elena Ostapenko debuts at the Grand Slam tournaments. On the courts of Wimbildon, she could not qualify for the main rally. And on the US Open Latvian tennis player it succeeded.

So far, the greatest achievement of Elena Ostapenko is the release in the third round of Wimbildon in doubles in 2016. The highest position in the WTA rating is 34.

Despite the absence of high-profile victories at the most prestigious tournaments in Latvia, her future sports career looks promising.