Jelena Ostapenko regains consistency without sacrificing attacking edge

Even in an era of professional tennis filled with athletes who can obliterate any ball off their groundstrokes from any part of the court, Jelena Ostapenko is unique. Her strength doesn’t simply lie in her power but the natural timing that allows her to change the direction of any speeding ball, the precision of her early, flat shots and, most importantly, her unrelenting belief that she must be in control of every point of every match. When in full flow and absurdly aiming for every line, she will find them.

The clearest example of Ostapenko’s talents came in the biggest, most tense moment of her career, when aged 20 she marched into the 2017 French Open final before trailing Simona Halep 0-3 and facing three separate break points in the third set. With her back to the wall, Ostapenko swung and swung until she changed her own destiny, reeling off the final six games to win her first grand slam title.

Having punched herself into a new existence as a grand slam champion with a target on her back and a high-risk style that is so hard to consistently maintain, a dip in Ostapenko’s form after her win was widely anticipated. While it did not come immediately, by 2019 Ostapenko had fallen as low as No 83 in the world. Some small positive runs followed, and occasionally enough shots landed in for a big win, but all too often Ostapenko would step into matches determined to hit her opponent off the court and self-sabotage with unforced errors in the process.

As the great BNP Paribas Open begins in Indian Wells this week, however, Ostapenko arrives as one of the stories of the season. After being ranked outside the top 50 last year, she is now No 12, on the verge of returning to the top 10 and rising quickly. Since September she