Latvian tennis player Elena Ostapenko easily defeated Ukrainian Daria Snigur (6-3, 6-0) in the second round of Wimbledon. In the next round, Ostapenko will face American Bernarda Pera, and then a clash with world number one Iga Swiatek is possible.
Elena has already completed the minimum task: she improved her result from last year at Wimbledon, when she was eliminated in the second round. Now the world number 14 has a good chance to go much further, despite the prospect of a match with Swiatek. Ostapenko plays surprisingly well against Iga, having a 4-0 advantage in the match. Elena will be inspired for new feats by the support of two world celebrities. During Wimbledon, the famous American rapper Lil Wayne and the famous Hollywood actor Steve Carell drew attention to the tennis player.
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Elena Ostapenko loves music, especially rap. And she often prefers to speak her mind without any restrictions. At the end of March, during the “thousandth anniversary” in Miami, Elena attended the concert of the popular Canadian rapper Drake. Lil Wayne also made a special appearance there. Elena shared her impressions of the party, without intending to flatter its main character.
“It was nice to see Drake, but to be honest, I liked Lil Wayne’s part of the concert a lot more. I felt his atmosphere and music in a special way, it was great. When Drake was on stage, I just stood there and didn’t really dance. But when Lil Wayne came out, I danced to every song, even if I didn’t know them. After the concert I started listening to a lot of Lil Wayne’s songs. I also like 50 Cent. Last year he had a concert in Riga, but I couldn’t go because of my schedule. I was very sad. I hope he comes back soon or is in some city where he will give a concert,” Ostapenko said.
Jelena Ostapenko at Wimbledon
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
It is quite possible that Drake did not see Ostapenko’s statement. Elena is the 2017 Roland Garros champion and one of the best tennis players of our time, but still, by world standards, she is not such a recognizable person. Ostapenko has 195 thousand subscribers on the largest social network, Drake has 145 million, Lil Wayne has 19 million subscribers, but he saw Elena’s words and paid attention to them, although his reaction was a bit late.
On July 25, Lil Wayne suddenly wrote “Thanks for the recognition” on social media, reposting an old video from two months ago with Ostapenko’s statement about him. Already during Wimbledon, Elena spoke about the rapper’s reaction to her praise.
“This is crazy! He has like 19 million followers on the social media platform. When I first saw his post, I was like, ‘Wow, he saw this and he knows this. ’ This is unbelievable. And Lil Wayne sent me a message saying that he was a huge fan of mine too. To me it was like… I looked at my phone. She just froze and looked at her phone for like five minutes. I couldn’t believe that Lil Wayne texted me. This is unbelievable… I would really like to see him in my match. Maybe when I play the US Open or other tournaments in the States. Of course I would like for him to watch me play!” Ostapenko said in the Tennis Channel studio.
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This time, the rapper responded more quickly to Elena’s praise: “I’ll be back.”
Perhaps Lil Wayne will attend Ostapenko’s match at Wimbledon, without waiting for the US Open. The 41-year-old rapper has been interested in tennis since childhood. He is a long-time friend of the legendary eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi. Lil Wayne is a frequent visitor to the US Open and watches the matches live. Whenever possible, he meets tennis players and communicates with them. For example, as in the case of Carlos Alcaraz, whom I saw at an NBA game in Miami.
Carlos Alcaraz and Lil Wayne
Photo: From Lil Wayne’s personal archive.
The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., constantly follows major tournaments and understands the sport. In 2010, Lil Wayne served 8 months in prison at Rikers Island for illegal possession of a firearm. He had nothing to do in prison, so he decided to try his hand at writing analytical materials about tennis. Before the 2010 US Open, he sent a letter with tournament layouts to Sports Illustrated magazine and correctly predicted champions Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters, even though they were not the most obvious favorites.
Even if Lil Wayne fails to make it to Wimbledon, Ostapenko has the support of another celebrity. Hollywood actor Steve Carell came to the tournament with his wife Nancy. At the same time, he interrupted his participation in the promotional campaign for the popular cartoon “Despicable Me 4”, where he voices the main character Gru.
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Carell is also a long-time tennis fan. In an interview with Laura Robson, Steve admitted that on the WTA tour what he likes most is Ostapenko’s game.
“It’s nice to hear things like that. Steve Carell has achieved a lot in his acting career. This is a different world, but you can learn a lot from people like that,” said the tennis player in response to the actor’s praise.
Steve Carell and Laura Robson at Wimbledon
Photo: Wimbledon Press Service
Carell particularly appreciates Ostapenko’s aggressiveness and activity on the court. In men’s tennis, the actor prefers Carlos Alcaraz. So far, Steve has not been seen in the stands, but he will probably appear there in the near future.
Ostapenko won the 500m titles in Adelaide and Linz this season. These are solid achievements, but Elena hasn’t really had any success at Grand Slam tournaments for a long time. At Wimbledon 2018, Ostapenko made it to the semi-finals. Why not at least repeat this result? If circumstances go well, you can even aim for the title. Celebrity support will definitely inspire Elena on the court.
