"I was pretty sure I'm gonna play at night, that's what they told" - Jelena Ostapenko blames 'strange' scheduling after US Open QF loss to Coco Gauff

Jelena Ostapenko's 2023 US Open campaign came to a lackluster end in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, with the Latvian falling 6-0, 6-2 to Coco Gauff.

The defeat is all the more disappointing, as Ostapenko had taken down World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the previous round, which catapuled her to one of the favorites at Flushing Meadows.

The fourt-round clash against the defending champion on Sunday was a late night blockbuster, while the encounter against Gauff was scheduled in the afternoon. That left the 2017 French Open champion with lesser turnaround time than she had anticipated. By contrast, Gauff had played her fourth-round clash against Caroline Wozniacki at around the same as she did on Tuesday.

At her press conference after the loss, Ostapenko admitted that she did not go to bed until 5 or 6 in the morning after beating Swiatek, following the adrenaline her captivating performance had produced.

As a result, she felt like she needed a few days just to recover from that match, a luxury she, unfortunately, could not afford.

"I didn't really feel physically very tired, but I felt like I didn't really recover from that night. Because as I said, I got back to the hotel around, like, 2:00 a.m. and even I tried to go to sleep at 3:00 in the morning, but I had all this adrenaline, and it was impossible to fall asleep.

"Then when you go to sleep at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, the whole day where you need a few days just to recover. I think it's a little bit crazy," Jelena Ostapenko said.

The 26-year-old opined that it would have been better to play around the same time or a bit later as she did in the fourth round, adding that Gauff benefited from the scheduling that way.

Ostapenko, in fact, claimed that the organizers told her she would be getting the night session for her quarterfinals, so the Latvian was caught by surprise when the schedule came out.

"I mean, if I play a match, like, a late-night session, then I suppose in one day I have to play at least at the same time or later on, because you don't really have much time to recover. Even you have this day in between, but you still need to practice, to do your things, to do the treatment and stuff. So I think it was better for her the schedule, because obviously she played much earlier the day I played night session," Jelena Ostapenko said.

"The thing was that when I asked the day before, I was pretty sure I'm gonna play at night session, because that's what they told me. When the schedule came out, I saw I'm playing first match and was, like, wow, that's a little bit strange scheduling," she added.

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"I believe I can win another Grand Slam" - Jelena Ostapenko

Jelena Ostapenko, US Open Tennis

Jelena Ostapenko is a little disappointed, but she's not too down on herself, as that she's happy with the week she had in New York. She reckons she's capable of winning another Grand Slam:

"I mean, of course, I believe I can win another Grand Slam. As I said, I didn't have much time to recover, and yeah, in general, I have to be happy with the week and with few weeks and just move forward," Jelena Ostapenko said.

"Yeah, of course, I'm disappointed about today, because I really feel like I didn't even play half of what I played the whole tournament, so yeah," she added.

Meanwhile, Coco Gauff takes on either Sorana Cirstea or Karolina Muchova in the semifinals of the 2023 US Open.