Jelena Ostapenko went viral during her still-to-be-completed first-round match against Tatjana Maria when social media users noticed she was none too pleased with the umbrella she was given when the rain started on Tuesday night.
Ostapenko and Maria had their U.S. Open first-round match on Court 11 interrupted twice as foul weather struck the New York metropolitan area. When their match had to be stopped for a second time, Ostapenko’s umbrella was unusually small.
By comparison, Maria was being covered by a much larger umbrella held by one of the ball boys.
Rain delay and somehow Ostapenko got stuck with a super small umbrella (donated by a fan?) and Maria got the official tournament umbrella ball kid experience 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/9cXROD7T6q
— 🎾nebby🎾 (@1gamesetmatch) September 2, 2026
Eventually, a bigger umbrella was brought out to Ostapenko, drawing a laugh out of the crowd.
Shortly after, though, play was suspended.
Ostapenko, a three-time Grand Slam winner, didn’t have much luck on Wednesday getting her match restarted on time.
More rain hit the area and caused a brief suspension of play on Wednesday afternoon in the matches played before Ostapenko and Maria were slated to restart.
Ostapenko is back at the U.S. Open following the controversial end to her run last year, when she had a fiery exchange with Taylor Townsend after the American defeated her. Ostapenko felt Townsend broke some of tennis’ unwritten rules.
Townsend said in her post-match interview that Ostapenko told her that she has “no class” and “no education.”
Ostapenko later apologized for the incident in a social media post.
“English is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court,” Ostapenko wrote. “I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a tennis player.
“Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year.”
