FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
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October 3, 2023,
The longer you live, there are some people that you forget, vaguely recall and those you sharply remember.
If you are a female tennis fan, you will always remember and appreciate the accomplishments of the world’s former number one player in Poland’s Iga Swiatek.
Mind blowing impressive.
Iga is a four-time major singles champion, having won the French Open in 2020, 2022, and 2023 and the US Open in 2022. She is the first player representing Poland to win a major singles title. She has won a total of 15 WTA Tour-level titles.
Iga has been ranked as high as world No. 1 in women’s singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), having held the position for 75 weeks.
Iga will always sharply remember Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Here is why.
As reported by CNN on September 4, 2023, at the US Open, “Jeļena Ostapenko extended her impressive unbeaten record over world No. 1 Iga Świątek on Sunday, eliminating the defending US Open champion in the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows.”
The overwhelming power from the big-hitting Jelena once again proved too much for Iga, with the Latvian super star winning 3-6 6-3 6-1.
Unbeaten over Iga?
Is that a typo?
Jelena has defeated the virtually undefeatable Iga Swiatek every time they have played?
According to the WTA Head to Head website, Jelena has defeated her four times.
The massive ramifications of the US Open defeat is that when the major tournament was over, Iga would no longer be the world’s number one player.
Iga had led the WTA rankings since April of 2022.
Winning one Grand Slam is a lifetime achievement for most players.
The former number one player has won three of the past six Grand Slam tournaments.
Thus, now it is time to take a closer look at the historic giant slayer in Jelena Ostapenko.
Jeļena, also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player who achieved a career-high WTA rankings of No. 5 in singles, achieved on March 19, 2018, and No. 7 in doubles, reached on September 12, 2022.
Jelena won the 2017 French Open singles title, becoming the first player from Latvia to win a major singles tournament and the first unseeded player to win the French Open since 1933.
Fans in Latvia and elsewhere had always called her Aļona, but the name was unknown in the West until her win at Roland Garros in 2017.
She has won seven singles titles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit, and she also won the junior singles event at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships.
In addition to her singles career, she has played as a member of the Latvia Fed Cup team.
About that playing style.
Jelena is an aggressive baseliner, with an attacking playing style.
In a 2017 article, Steve Tignor of Tennis.com described Jelena’s mentality as “See ball, hit winner.” Eurosport labeled her style as “risky, aggressive, fun tennis”.
Hey, life is short, tennis careers can be even shorter. High risk, high reward.
Her forehand and backhand are both hit flat, with relentless power and depth.
Due to her aggressive playing style, she accumulates significant numbers of both winners and unforced errors.
She aims to finish points quickly, either with powerful groundstrokes or strategic volleys.
As was evident in her US Open battle with Iga, Jelena moves opponents around the court by aiming long strokes at corners and lines, and then changes direction to hit powerful winners.
How familiar are you with Latvia?
Time to take a culture trip.
Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.
It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south.
It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west.
Latvia covers an area of 24,938 square miles, with a population of 1.9 million.
The country’s history is complex.
After centuries of Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian, and Russian rule, which was mainly implemented through the local Baltic German aristocracy, the independent Republic of Latvia was established on November 18, 1918 after breaking away from the German Empire in the aftermath of World War I.
Latvia is a developed country with a high-income, advanced economy ranking 39th in the Human Development Index. It is a member of the European Union.
That’s a lot to take in. Time to relax.
Its capital and largest city is Riga. We would like to visit.
The world travelers at lonelyplanet.com smile, “The Gothic spires that dominate Rīga’s cityscape might suggest austerity, but it is the flamboyant art nouveau that forms the flesh and the spirit of this vibrant cosmopolitan city, the largest of all three Baltic capitals. Like all northerners, it is quiet and reserved on the outside, but there is some powerful chemistry going on inside its hip bars, modern art centres and the kitchens of its cool experimental restaurants.”
We love hipster.
Good to know.
Jelena is from a complex, high income and very exciting country.
Speaking of high income, would it be polite of us to talk about money? Jelena’s? You will be very impressed.
According to the WTA website, Jelena has made $1,821,538 in 2023.
That is a lot of hipster dancing and dining in Riga.
Her career earnings are $13,596,856. Very impressive, true?
At the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon 2022 she wore DK ONE, a Latvian brand.
If you like looking great on the tennis courts, you should check out their website, dk1one.com.
Jelena is a heavy supporter of the Latvian company and the clothing lines and photos of Jelena are impressive. At their Instagram we gain some perspective on their approach. The clothing line is designed by a Professional Tennis Coach, using high quality organic cotton and recycled fabric.
Mother Earth and landfills are thankful for that environmental friendly approach.
Now, you know a little bit more about Jelena Ostapenko than you did before.
Given her power hitting playing style and zest to take risks, watch her perform and we are certain, you will sharply remember her for years to come.
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OPENING PHOTO Shutterstock-lev-radin-photo-credit-Editorial-use fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com fcielitecompetitor.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_%C5%9Awi%C4%85tek
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/04/tennis/iga-swiatek-loses-jelena-ostapenko-us-open-spt-intl/index.html
https://www.wtatennis.com/head-to-head/326408/319939
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je%C4%BCena_Ostapenko
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/latvia/riga
https://www.instagram.com/1dkone/
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
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