‘Very disrespectful. You’re the worst player on tour’ – the bad blood behind Ajla and her next Open rival

There’s enough bad blood between Ajla Tomljanovic and Jelena Ostapenko for a Taylor Swift song. They clash at the Australian Open on Thursday.

Ajla Tomljanovic hits a return on her way to victory against Croatia’s Petra Martic. Picture: AFP

Catfight. Claws out. Ajla Tomljanovic is about to serve to Jelena Ostapenko at Wimbledon. She’s up four-love. Deciding set. Ostapenko walks to her courtside bench and snaps at the umpire: “I cannot continue. I have pain.” Tomljanovic sees red. Reow.

Ostapenko is granted a medical time-out. They’re waiting for the physio to show. Tomljanovic tells the umpire: “You know she’s lying, right? We all know. Are you taking into any consideration that she looked fine for an hour and 30 and now there’s an acute injury?”

The physio gives the Latvian the once-over, the magic sponge, the all-clear. Tomljanovic continues on her merryish way to a 4-6 6-4 6-2 win. It takes nearly another hour and 30 to shake hands. Catfight continues. Reow.

Ostapenko: “If you think I’m faking it, you can talk with the physio. Your behaviour is terrible. You have zero respect.”

Tomljanovic: “You’re the one to talk.”

Ostapenko: “What? You’re the worst player on tour.”

And off they shuffled to their post-match press conferences at The All England Club. You could’ve sold tickets to the interview room. First up was Ostapenko. She presented the case for the defence. Reow.

Ostapenko: “First of all, she cannot say anything because she knows zero about my injury. And second, it was very disrespectful from her. I had a problem with my abdominal in the second set. I should have called physio earlier, but I was just trying to forget the pain and focus on the game. I think my level today was not good after the first set, because if I played at least 50 per cent, I would have beaten her.”

She continued: “I think what she did was very disrespectful. I mean, how can you say ‘liar’ or something if you know zero about my injury? You cannot say that. In front of everybody, call me liar? I don’t think it’s respectful from her side. So that’s what I said: ‘You are a very bad player,’ because of this behaviour. That’s it. You are winning but it does not mean you can do everything you want.”

Ajla Tomljanovic waves as she leaves the court after victory against Croatia’s Petra Martic. Picture: AFP

Next up was Tomljanovic. Winners were grinners. Sort of. She provided the case for the prosecution. Reow.

Tomljanovic: “I’ve been in situations where players use the medical time-out to put their opponent off. Usually when they are losing badly. She can say she was injured. I don’t think she was. There was nothing wrong with her the whole match, but then why on 4-0 she calls it? She just wanted to get me off my game. Usually if you are dealing with an injury, you say, ‘Hey, can you call the physio on the next changeover?’ You don’t just go and sit down when your opponent is about to serve to go up 5-0. There was nothing wrong with her. I know when someone is injured and when they’re not. Then to top it all off, for her to call me disrespectful at the end of the match – it’s laughable. I think it’s disgraceful behaviour from a slam champion because kids look at her and, what, they see that?”

Their Wimbledon tiff was in 2021. They played again at Eastbourne the following year. Ostapenko purred to a 6-4 6-4 win. Meow. Played the match in a right mood, though. All of which sets the scene for a fantastically feisty little battle when they meet at Melbourne Park on Thursday. The allegedly lying, faking, disgraceful Ostapenko against the allegedly disrespectful Tomljanovic, who’s allegedly the worst player on tour, who Ostapenko can allegedly beat at 50 per cent of her capabilities.

How to preview it properly? With the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood: “Now we got problems, I don’t think we can solve ’em. You made a really deep cut and now we got bad blood. Hey!” That’s the gist of it.

Tomljanovic claimed on Wednesday there wasn’t “really any” bad blood with Ostapenko but even she laughed when it was then suggested she doth protest too much.

“What happened, happened,” she said. “It’s been a while. I think we played each other after once more, and she beat me. I have respect for her as a player. What happened, that was just in that moment. I just reacted. We never spoke about it. We’re both going to be competitive, that’s for sure. I do think at least from my side I respect her as a tennis player. In that moment, I wasn’t happy. Oh, this answer’s going way too long! It’s fine. It’ll be a good match. She’s a great player and I’m definitely the underdog. I think special things can happen at slams.”

Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko celebrates winning against Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in the first round of the Australian Open. Picture: AFP

Tomljanovic will be one of three Australians in action on day five. Thanasi Kokkinakis has hope against 13th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov while Max Purcell has enough mongrel to give 11th-seeded Casper Ruud some stick. Tomljanovic doesn’t normally dwell on her wins. But she’s dining out on her marathon, post-midnight, three-set victory over Petra Martic in the opening round of the Open – her first victory at Melbourne Park since being forced out of the sport by knee surgery.

“I tend to move on to the next match really quickly,” she said after her 7-6 (7/3) 4-6 6-4 triumph.

“I probably should because it’s coming quick but I don’t know, I really feel like this is a big one for me. I don’t know why, but I probably do know why. I feel like sometimes you guys and everyone, you don’t see me for a year, and no one really knows how it was. I just mean that because it’s normal. You’re not with me every day. You don’t know, when you’re coming back from surgery, if you’ll come back. It’s a gamble in a way, going under the knife. I’m just very, very, very happy that I’m here.”

She was very, very, very resilient against Martic. Reowed and meowed and recovered from 1-4 in the final set to win in two hours and 53 minutes. The clock had just ticked past midnight.

“I promised myself if I get another chance at the AO with a close match, I want to come out with not feeling regret, which is the worst thing you can carry,” she said. “I know even rehabbing, I wrote down in my journal that I can’t wait for that moment when you’re like, ‘Oh, I was over with it.’ If you really want it, it’ll come. You’re going to get it at some point. I’m just super-happy. The crowd really pulled me through. I mean, staying so late, there were a few kids behind me, every change of ends, saying things that were just so cute. I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to give it a go.’ It was my night tonight. I’ll take it.”