Elena Ostapenko is the most promising young tennis player in Latvia. At the age of 19, she already managed to win 7 ITF tournaments in singles and 8 in doubles.
Biographical data
Elena Ostapenko, whose photo 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 moved to the coaches. For this reason, Elena from the earliest years spent a lot of time in the immediate vicinity of the courts.
Already at 3 years old, the girl first picked up the racket in her hands, and after two years she began to seriously train.
Junior career
The first successes came to the Latvian athlete at the age of thirteen. First, Elena Ostapenko won the singles in the national junior competition, and a few months later she became the triumph of the prestigious youth tournament Les Petits As, held in French Tabre.
2011 brought new achievements for the young tennis player. In a duet with the Russian Sinyakova, she managed to break into the semifinals 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 several G1 competitions.
The following year, Elena became the first Latvian to win one of the grand slam junior tournaments. On the courts of Wimbildon, Ostapenko performed just perfectly, confidently defeating all of her peers. In addition to this achievement, the tennis player in the doubles won the bronze medal at the Youth Olympics.
These indicators allowed Elena to break into the top 10 ranking, and in August 2014 to get into the three of the best juniors in the world.
Professional career
In the winter of 2012, 15-year-old Elena Ostapenko first took part in adult competitions. Gradually increasing her skill and self-confidence, the young tennis player began to win in low-budget ITF tournaments, both in singles and doubles. By May 2015, Ostapenko took 165th place in the Top 200.
In parallel with participating in various tournaments, Elena at the age of 16 represented her country in the Federation Cup. With its help, in 2013 the Latvian team won in their group and rose to a more representative division.
At the age of 18, Elena Ostapenko makes her debut in Grand Slam tournaments. On the courts of Wimbildon, she could not qualify for the main draw. And at the US Open, the Latvian tennis player succeeded.
So far, the greatest achievement of Elena Ostapenko is getting into the third round of Wimbildon in doubles in 2016. The highest position in the WTA ranking is 34.
Despite the absence of high-profile victories at the most prestigious tournaments in the young tennis player from Latvia, her future sports career looks promising.