Jelena Ostapenko briefly became the villain of Wimbledon on day one of the Championships after clashing with the crowd during her first-round win over Harriet Dart.
British tennis fans flocked to Court One on Monday afternoon hoping to cheer local favourite Dart on to a rare Wimbledon win.
But the world number 151, who was handed a wildcard to play in the singles draw, lost the opening set 6-3 to former French Open champion Ostapenko.
Dart began to mount a stirring comeback in the second, however, levelling the match much to the delight of a largely partisan crowd on Court One.
The London-born 29-year-old also had some success in the third and drew raucous applause after breaking the Ostapenko serve after the Latvian threw in a poor double fault.
Ostapenko sarcastically applauded the Wimbledon crowd as they cheered Dart’s break of serve and raised her racket to acknowledge what she may have considered unfair treatment.
But Wimbledon legend Navratilova criticised Ostapenko’s reaction and said the experienced star should have ‘expected’ the crowd to be in Dart’s corner.
‘Ostapenko is quite happy to pick a fight with this crowd,’ BBC commentator Chris Bradnam said. ‘She’s taking on over 12,000 in here.’
Nine-time Wimbledon champion Navratilova then said: ‘Yeah, that’s not a good idea for Ostapenko.
‘They’re not applauding the fact she double faulted, they’re applauding the fact that Harriet Dart broke her and is back on serve. These days that kind of reaction is to be expected but I understand it can still be frustrating.’
Ostapenko regained her composure at the changeover and asserted her dominance when the match restarted, going on to win the deciding set 6-4.
In her on-court interview, Ostapenko apologised to the crowd for getting a ‘little bit emotional’.
‘I’m probably not the one who you wanted to win but thank you, it was a really nice atmosphere,’ she said.
‘Sorry if I was a little bit emotional but I feel like the first round is always tough especially when you face somebody from here.
‘I was not playing my best but it really matters when you win the match not playing your best. She is a great player and played a great match.
‘It was a rollercoaster but I’m really proud of myself. When I play somebody local or just somebody that the crowd is supporting, I feel like I’m angry in a good way and I just want to prove wrong that like, you guys are not supporting the right person.
‘Not in this case because she is from here and this is a good crowd from here. I just wanted to prove that you guys should support me in the next match.’
Dart’s Wimbledon opener was moved to Court One after British number one Emma Raducanu withdrew on the eve of the tournament.
In another blow for British tennis fans, Jack Draper also pulled out just 24 hours before his first-round match against sixth seed Taylor Fritz.
‘I’m devastated to share that I have had to withdraw from my first round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury,’ said Draper, who is coached by Sir Andy Murray.
‘There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months, but this one is definitely the absolute worst.’
In yet another setback for British tennis, former semi-finalist Cameron Norrie was beaten in the first round by America’s Michael Zheng in five sets.
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