Star’s ‘mental tiredness’ pinned on finals exit

In the wake of her straight-sets loss to Elena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko labelled her decision to play mixed doubles the night prior a bad call.

“I felt like maybe mixed doubles yesterday was not the right decision to play that late,” she told media after losing her singles quarter final on Monday.

Ostapenko and her partner David Vega Hernandez were scheduled to play their second-round mixed doubles match at 8pm on Monday.

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Finishing late into the evening, Ostapenko was back at Melbourne Park at 10am on Tuesday to prepare for her quarter final.

Asked if the short turnaround impacted her performance, Ostapenko said she felt “mental tiredness” during the match.

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“[When] I came [back] to my room, it was almost 10pm and I really didn’t get much sleep because I had to play at 12:30pm [the next day],” she said.

“All these things maybe were not the right decision, I don’t know, or maybe the scheduling could be a little better. 

Match Highlights: Elena Rybakina v Jelena Ostapenko

“But it is as it is. It’s already in the past.”

Despite a nervy finish to the second set, 22nd seed Rybakina held on to defeat Ostapenko, 6-2, 6-4, in one hour and 20 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

During the match, the Latvian star again showed her frustration at the electronic line-calling system in place at the Australian Open.

Ostapenko previously criticised the procedure after defeating Coco Gauff in the fourth round.

Latvian star swipes line-calling system

“Honestly, I’m not really happy with the system they are using,” she told media.

“[A] couple times it was really, like, not even by couple centimetres. It was [missing by] much more than that.

“But I cannot do anything about it, because it is the way as it is.

“But I feel like some lines, sometimes the system is… not ignoring, but sometimes the calls are…

“First of all, they are really late sometimes. You already hit the ball, and then you hear ‘out’, which is normally not the way it is with the line umpires.

“And second of all, some balls were not a little out. They were a bit out and they were not called.”

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