Coco Gauff, the American tennis sensation, must have had big dreams when she entered the Australian Open this year. However, Gauff suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Latvian player Jelena Ostapenko. However, Ostapenko, despite defeating a seeded player like Gauff, has faced a financial block in recent months which has forced her to consider quitting tennis. In light of such developments, a compatriot of Gauff has taken a dig at Ostapenko.

Money is an important part when it comes to playing at the highest level in tennis and players look for sponsors or financial aid from their respective countries’ tennis federations. But for Ostapenko, everything seems to be going wrong at the moment.

Sachia Vickery takes a jab at Jelena Ostapenko

The Latvian player hit the headlines after defeating the American tennis sensation Coco Gauff at the Australian Open. But fame and money are not the only things that the player got. Currently, she is a world no. 25, making people believe she can grow both career-wise and financially.

But, her plans were recently put to a halt when lost the financial aid from her country. Talking about the same, she said, “WTA organizes tournaments & I don’t have the opportunity to play elsewhere. It means I can’t play in any tournament. I have to quit tennis. I won’t do that because I’m a tennis player & this is my sport. Unfortunately, that is the reality.”

She expressed her disappointment over this, but the American player Sachia Vickery had something else to say. However, the former American tennis player Jamie Hampton pointed out the career prize money of Ostapenko and tweeted, “someone tell this girl that she’s 25 in the world and has made 12.3 million in her career and half a million this year”.

Replying to this tweet, Sachia Vickery stated in a sarcastic manner, “Seems like she’s hanging on by a thread financially miracle she can keep playing!” 

But how has this come to be? Why did the Latvian government withdraw its financial support?

Solidarity is leading players to suffer

Since the start the Russian-Ukraine conflict, a lot of athletes from Russia and Belarus have faced sanctions on various fronts. And this time, a similar thing happened with Ostapenko.

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Latvia has decided to withdraw financial support from its national athletes who have taken part in events where Russian and Belarusian players have also played. The country’s solidarity with Ukraine has taken a toll on their star player.

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Once again, the question arises- should a growing tennis player jeopardize her career because of the mixing of politics and sports? Let us know your take in the comments below.