If there’s one thing Jelena Ostapenko rarely lets slide, it’s something she believes crosses the line on court. And during her US Open doubles match alongside Su-wei Hsieh, the Latvian had enough when she noticed someone in the opposing team’s box cheering loudly against them. From there, things only escalated.
Ostapenko stopped the match midway and approached the chair umpire to complain about the behavior coming from Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint’s player box. According to the Latvian, their coach had been clapping and shouting after Ostapenko and Hsieh’s mistakes while also sarcastically praising their opponents’ shots in Mandarin, comments that Hsieh translated for her.
“They do this because they know they cannot beat us,” Ostapenko told the umpire, calling the behavior “very disrespectful” and asking for a translator.
After the umpire agreed to address the situation, Ostapenko and Hsieh returned to the court and raised their level, sealing a 6-4, 6-4 straight-sets win over Chan and Joint. But the tension did not end there. Ostapenko celebrated the victory by roaring toward the opposing box, while Chan did not shake hands with Hsieh following the fiery encounter. However, this wasn’t the first time an encounter between Hsieh and Chan Hao-ching had ended on an awkward note.
At the 2025 China Open, after Ostapenko and Hsieh claimed the opening-round victory against Jiang Xinyu and Chan Hao-ching, Hsieh appeared to avoid Chan during their post-match handshake. While Hsieh exchanged net greetings with Jiang Xinyu’s hand, she avoided extending the same gesture towards Chan. That moment brought their long-standing feud back into the spotlight.
To understand why their beef keeps attracting attention, the story goes back long before the 2016 Rio Olympics.
While both Hsieh and Chan call Taiwan their home, both players had already faced tensions over funding, coaching, and resources. Hsieh accused Taiwan’s tennis association of favoring Chan Hao-Ching and her sister, Chan Yung-jan (Latisha Chan), for years. However, the association rejected that accusation, saying coaching decisions followed rankings and Olympic team rules.
The dispute exploded before the 2016 Rio Olympics when Hsieh challenged the coaching arrangements. She objected after Chan Yuan-liang, the Chan sisters’ father, received official coaching support to travel.
Hsieh said her own coach was denied similar backing. So Hsieh withdrew and retired from international tennis in protest.
Notably, another episode involving Latisha Chan and Hsieh Su-wei’s brother, Cheng-peng, added to the strain back in 2017. Latisha Chan and Cheng-peng were due to play their mixed doubles semifinal at the Taipei Universiade, but Chan withdrew shortly before the match, citing a physical condition and forcing Cheng-peng to forfeit. The decision raised eyebrows when, just weeks later, Chan teamed up with Martina Hingis at the US Open.
Hsieh Su-wei did not hold back either. The former World No. 1 doubles player publicly criticized Chan on Facebook for leaving her brother without a partner, sparking widespread backlash. Many fans began questioning whether Chan’s physical condition had been used as an excuse to skip the Universiade and prepare for the US Open instead.
And even at the Ningbo Open in 2025, Su-wei refused to shake hands with Chan. The latest US Open episode has only added another chapter to their complicated history, with Ostapenko making sure to stand firmly by her doubles partner.
But this wasn’t the first time Ostapenko had found herself at the center of a heated exchange at Flushing Meadows. Last year, during her second-round clash with Taylor Townsend on Court 11, the Latvian accused the American of having “no class” and “no education” during a tense on-court confrontation.
The match eventually ended with Townsend winning in straight sets. Ostapenko later apologized, saying her choice of words had been misunderstood because English was not her first language.
Now, while Ostapenko and Hsieh have moved into the quarterfinals, their Round of 16 opponents, Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint, are not the only players to leave a clash with controversy following them. The Williams sisters also found themselves at the center of another US Open talking point after their opening match.
The US Open has already had its share of strange moments, and the Williams sisters added another one. Serena and Venus returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium, but their comeback ended in painful fashion. They led 5-0 in the deciding tiebreak before Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint fought back to win 10-7.
The crowd watched the sisters come painfully close, only to see the match slip away. But what happened after the final point became another story around Flushing Meadows.
Serena and Venus did not appear for their mandatory post-match media duties after the defeat.
That became controversial because players are required to attend media sessions after matches. Missing those obligations can lead to fines, making the sisters’ decision stand out.
The USTA later confirmed neither sister would be fined, despite no injury reason being reported.
That decision left reporters and fans wondering why the usual punishment was not applied to the Williams sisters. The question became louder because other players have faced penalties for missing similar media commitments.
Novak Djokovic, for example, was fined after missing press following his 2020 US Open disqualification.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Serena and Venus should have been punished, but it does leave some questions unanswered. If organizers can decide when a rule matters and when it doesn’t, players may start wondering where the line is, or whether there is a line at all.
