Jelena Ostapenko accuses Anna Kalinskaya of ‘all kinds of simulations’ after skipped handshake

Jelena Ostapenko has said she was ready for “all kinds of simulations” from Anna Kalinskaya during their tense Italian Open meeting Monday.

The pair did not shake hands at the end after Ostapenko won 6-1, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals. After missing a forehand drive volley into the net to end the match, Kalinskaya did not wait there for Ostapenko, as is convention.

The Russian instead went straight to shake the umpire’s hand, and then went to her chair. Their last meeting, at February’s Dubai Tennis Championships, did end with a handshake, but a decidedly frosty one.

“I was ready for all kinds of simulations with the physio calls and all these things,” Ostapenko, 29, said in an interview with the WTA Tour following a tetchy match in which Kalinskaya, 27, took an off-court medical timeout at the end of the first set. “She’s a tricky player that is trying to get you out of the rhythm when she starts losing. But the most important (thing) is that I’m really proud of myself, the way I was able to manage all that, losing three games and playing a really good match.

A representative for Kalinskaya did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During the interview, Ostapenko also said that the non-handshake was her opponent’s choice.

“I feel like there are so many great players and we are respecting each other,” she said. “I know that I can be emotional on the court, but at the end of the day, I respect the other players.”

Of her 0-4 head-to-head record against Kalinskaya going into the match, Ostapenko added: “I honestly didn’t really care much. I know I’m a better player.”

Ostapenko, a former French Open champion, has had plenty of run-ins with her opponents. No-look handshakes have become something of a signature, with the first high-profile example coming at the 2017 U.S. Open, a few months after that Roland Garros title. Having lost to Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, Ostapenko actively looked away from her opponent, prompting former world No 33 Mary Carillo to joke on Tennis Channel: “Notice the frost on the fingers.”

A couple of years ago, Ostapenko lost to Belarusian player Victoria Azarenka three times in the space of seven weeks. Those defeats were met with two no-look handshakes, Ostapenko holding out her racket rather than her hand on the other occasion. In a May 2024 interview, Ostapenko said of her non-handshakes with Azarenka: “There is a reason behind it.” When asked whether they related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which Belarus is a strategic ally, Ostapenko, who is Latvian with a Ukrainian father, said that “there are a few reasons for that.”