Jelena Ostapenko has been given a major setback ahead of the French Open this year.
Ostapenko won the French Open in 2017, when she became Latvia’s first Grand Slam singles champion at 20 years old.
This enabled her to reach a career-high ranking of world number five, and Ostapenko has gone on to win eight more titles since then, including one on every surface.
The latest of those came when Ostapenko won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart last year, but her title defence has not gone to plan.
Jelena Ostapenko will fall to her lowest ranking since 2021 after Stuttgart defeat
Ostapenko was the world number 22 coming into the WTA 500 tournament, but due to the stacked lineup in Stuttgart was not seeded.
As a result, defending champion Ostapenko was handed a very tricky opening match against sixth seed Mirra Andreeva, who won her fifth WTA title in Linz last week.
Despite being the lower ranked player, Ostapenko was on her way to making an impressive start to her title defence when leading Andreeva 7-5, 2-6, 4-1.
However, things began to unravel for Ostapenko, who lost five consecutive games to subsequently lose her first round match in Stuttgart.
Ostapenko will now drop 499 points from her ranking, and is currently at world number four in the live WTA rankings.
This will be Ostapenko’s lowest ranking since June 2021, and she could even fall further.
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Ostapenko has another 130 points to defend until the French Open this year, and looks likely to be outside the 32 seeded places for the clay court major.
This is significant, as it means that Ostapenko could play anyone in the first round of the French Open, including Iga Swiatek.
Swiatek is a four-time French Open champion, but she has really struggled against Ostapenko in the past.
Ostapenko has a 6-0 record against Swiatek, which includes beating her en route to winning the title in Stuttgart last year.
| Year | Tournament | Result |
| 2019 | Birmingham Classic (R32) | Ostapenko beat Swiatek, 6-0 6-2 |
| 2021 | Indian Wells (R16) | Ostapenko beat Swiatek, 6-4 6-3 |
| 2022 | Dubai Tennis Championships (R16) | Ostapenko beat Swiatek, 4-6 6-1 7-6(4) |
| 2023 | US Open (R16) | Ostapenko beat Swiatek, 3-6 6-3 6-1 |
| 2025 | Qatar Open (SF) | Ostapenko beat Swiatek, 6-3 6-1 |
| 2025 | Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (QF) | Ostapenko beat Swiatek, 6-3 3-6 6-2 |
Swiatek may secretly be hoping that Ostapenko finds some form ahead of the French Open to ensure that she is seeded for the clay court major.
Ostapenko won her sole Grand Slam title at the French Open, but she has actually not been past the third round in her eight appearances since.
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