Jelena Ostapenko apologized for some of the words she used during a heated argument with American Taylor Townsend at the US Open, which caused a backlash when the Latvian claimed that English was not her native tongue.
After their handshake, Townsend, a Black woman, defeated 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in a close second-round match.
In an on-court interview, Townsend claimed Ostapenko had accused her of having “no class” and “no education,” and that the Latvian would have to respond if the row had “racial undertones.”
Ostapenko claimed on Instagram that Townsend’s refusal to apologize for clipping the net caused her to feel anger and that she was being disrespectful.
Following traditional customs of the game, the majority of players typically raise their racket in applause after claiming such a point.
Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, said using the words used by Ostapenko were the worst words to use against a Black player in the altercation, prompting the Japanese player to join in the discussion.
Ostapenko apologized on Saturday for some of the things I said during my second-round singles game.
Because English is not my native language, I was only talking about what I thought was proper tennis etiquette when I said education, but I am aware that many people could have been offended by the words I used.
I appreciate your encouragement as I continue to learn and develop as a player and person.
Townsend later expressed gratitude for Ostapenko’s apology.
” That’s fine. That’s cool, she continued. In the end, I believe that she learned that you can’t set unrealistic expectations on others. That is what transpired.
She complained that she expected me to respond in a certain way, but I didn’t, which infuriated her and made her say things that were offensive, belligerent, and hurtful to both myself and the people I try to represent as best as I can.
One of the nicest people she knew, according to American Coco Gauff, Townsend will face Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round.
Townsend claimed that the incident had led to a lot of information being shared with her.
There are many well-known faces present, but many people “maybe didn’t realize who I was,” she said.
With their retaliation and winning at the US Open, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek have shown they are only human, demonstrating that even the best players in the world sometimes have to figure things out on their own.
Swiatek, the reigning champion at Wimbledon, lived up to the day’s theme of triumph through adversity, coming back from a 5-1 deficit in the opening set against Anna Kalinskaya to earn a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory in their third-round encounter on Saturday.
Swiatek expressed his satisfaction that I returned and continued to “figure out” and solve problems. It wasn’t an easy match, to be sure.
The world no. 2 had a far cry from her sharpest performance in a sluggish, error-strewn contest; nine breaks and 67 unforced errors were combined to depict a match won through sheer bloody-mindedness rather than sublime shot-making.
Swiatek held her own in the crucial moments, saving four set points in the opening set and breaking late in the second to claim her 20th major match victory and draw level with Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning champion and world number one.
Finding the solutions and the specific thing that will help you can sometimes be challenging, she continued.
You must be able to consider what you can do with your mind open. In terms of that, I would say that today was a pretty good day because, you know, at 5-1 or something, it’s easy to panic, which I didn’t.
Her reward is a meeting with Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 13th seed, in the last 16.
The 27th seeded Denis Shapovalov was the subject of a similar display of resolve when the world number one showed up, winning 5-7,6-4,6-3,6-3.
The victory extended the 24-year-old Italian’s unbeaten streak to 24 hardcourt Grand Slam matches, a streak that was fueled not just by talent but also by his capacity to problem-solve when his best tennis fails to match his best form.
I am not a machine, I am aware. In their first meeting of the 2021 Australian Open, Sinner was beaten by the Canadian in the opening round of the event.
“Every match is very challenging,” he said. Every challenge is challenging.
He is one of the players who “has more qualities or potential,” he says. I merely made an effort to remain there mentally.
Denis Shapovalov [Elsa/Getty Images via AFP] Jannik Sinner defeated him after a set-up.
Zverev loses control once more.
Not everyone’s top seeds came up with the same winning formula.
With a set-dancing victory over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, world number three Alexander Zverev, who was chasing his first Grand Slam title, was overcome by the German 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-4, ending his tournament in frustration.
As the match drew to a close, Zverev slammed his racquet in disbelief as Auger-Aliassime’s fearless shot-making turned the tables.
Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff have set up a fourth-round showdown that will dominate the tournament’s second week, making it the most intriguing battle of wills to come as it approaches.
In her most impressive performance of the week, Gauff defeated Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-1 while four-time major champion Osaka overcame a midmatch slump to defeat 15th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
A charismatic showdown between two charismatic former champions six years after their memorable first encounter at Flushing Meadows could not have been planned better for US fans.
In a show of sportsmanship that delighted the crowd, defending champion Osaka defeated tearful 15-year-old Gauff 6-3, 6-0, before comforting her and urging her to address fans in the stadium.
Gauff said, “It would be a cool kind of deja vu type of situation, but hopefully it will result in a different outcome.”
Coco and Naomi reunite in Round 4 of the photo after their initial encounter in NYC. twitter.com/SzSKAbnCFh
Venus Williams, 45, and Leylah Fernandez, both from Canada, won their first tournament together 7-6 (1), 6-1, over Ulrikke Eikeri and Eri Hozumi, demonstrating the theme of experience and determination.
In five sets, Andrey Rublev’s fairytale run ended Coleman Wong’s run in Hong Kong.
Following Ben Shelton’s hiccup-related exit the day before, there were three more retirements in the men’s draw on Saturday.
When their rivals finally threw the towel on Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti, and Leandro Riedi, a 435th-ranked Swiss qualifier, moved on.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has made it known that he will sign an executive order requiring voter identification.
“Every Vote Must Include Voter I. D.” NO DISCRETIONS! In that regard, I’ll be executing an executive order! Trump remarked on Saturday on his Truth Social platform, “! “.
Additionally, he noted that there is no mail-in voting for those who are “very sick” and “far away from the military.”
Trump is attempting to reform the US electoral system as he addresses false accusations that his 2020 defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud.
Additionally, the president and his Republican allies have made baseless assertions about the sporadic, if occasionally illegal, widespread voting by non-citizens.
He has pushed for the use of paper ballots and hand counts for years, a procedure that election officials claim is time-consuming, expensive, and far less accurate than machine counting, instead of using electronic voting machines.
Trump signed a comprehensive executive order in March of this year that mandated that all ballots be delivered by Election Day and that all documents must be submitted as required for documentary proof of citizenship.
According to a judge in April, the US Constitution grants states and Congress the authority to regulate federal elections, not the president, blocking portions of that order, including the requirement for proof of citizenship.
In addition, Trump vowed to pass an executive order to ban mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the midterm elections in 2026.
As deadly anti-government demonstrations spread outside the capital, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has canceled his trip to China, and TikTok, a social media platform, has suspended its live broadcast due to concerns about the “increasing violence” in the Southeast Asian nation.
The announcement made by Prabowo’s spokesman came on Saturday as Indonesian authorities reported that at least three people had died in an earlier arson attack on a parliament building in Makassar, South Sulawesi province.
The nearly one-year-old government of Prabowo faces its first significant challenge. After a police car hit and killed a motorcycle rider, they started in Jakarta on Monday over the lawmakers’ salaries.
According to presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi, “the president wants to continue monitoring [the situation in Indonesia] directly and look for the best solutions.”
The president apologizes to the Chinese government for being unable to attend the invitation.
On September 3rd, Prabowo was scheduled to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, as well as a “Victory Day” parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of World War II’s end.
[Eko Siswono Toyudho/Anadolu] A protester pours water into one protester’s eyes as they wash out tear gas at a demonstration outside the Mobile Brigade Corps headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday.
According to reports, all 580 lawmakers in Indonesia are also paid a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($3, 075) in addition to their salaries.
In a time when most people are struggling with rising living costs and taxes as well as rising unemployment, critics contend that the new allowance is excessive and insensitive.
Following the death of 21-year-old ride-hailing driver Affan Kurniawan on Thursday in Jakarta, the protests grew larger and more violent. The country was shocked and acquiesced to a national outcry against the country’s security forces after a video that appeared to show his death was posted on social media.
Prabowo, who served under Muhammad Soeharto as an army general, has urged calm and condolenced the victim’s death.
He has also urged the police and military to take decisive action to restore order.
According to local media reports, protesters reportedly set fires to regional parliament buildings in West Nusa Tenggara, Pekalongan city in central Java, and Cirebon city in West Java earlier on Saturday.
According to Detik.com, police in Pekalongan and West Nusa Tenggara and the protesters in Cirebon had looted parliamentary office equipment.
Plans for additional protests
In response to widespread outcry over a “housing allowance for politicians, which is ten times the minimum wage,” Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, who is reporting from Jakarta, reported that “thousands of protesters remain on the streets” in the country’s capital.
Washington stated that while the government is urging calm, the protests are growing, with more cities receiving complaints and organizing demonstrations in the near future.
Local media also reported that a crowd had taken items including household furniture from Ahmad Sahroni, a lawmaker from the political party NasDem, and looted his Jakarta residence.
In an effort to stifle opposition to lawmakers’ demands for the government to bedissolved, Sahroni has been accused of responding insensitively. Such critics are “the stupidest people in the world,” according to Sachroni.
On Bali, where tear gas was used against demonstrators, protests also took place.
The short-video app TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, announced on Saturday that it had temporarily suspended its live streaming service in Indonesia.
Because of the spread of disinformation online, Jakarta summoned representatives of social media platforms, including Meta Platforms Inc. and TikTok, and instructed them to promote content moderation. According to the government, such disinformation has caused protests against it.
We are implementing additional security measures to keep TikTok a safe and civilized environment in light of the growing violence in Indonesian protests, according to a statement from ByteDance.
The TikTok LIVE feature will be voluntarily suspended for the next few days in Indonesia, according to the statement.
With more than 100 million users, Indonesia has one of the largest audiences in the world.
Users complained that the service’s Saturday protest videos prevented them from using the live feature.
People had documented the protests with the well-known video app, which featured tear gas and water cannon shots at protesters.
According to Wirya Adiwena, deputy director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Indonesia’s government appears to be more concerned with ensuring it has “full control of the narratives [and] full control of the protests” than with addressing the real issues that people have, according to Wirya Adiwena, the government’s deputy director.
On Sunday, August 31st, what is the current situation:
Fighting
According to Ukrainian officials, Russia launched “massive” strikes against Ukraine overnight on Saturday, with 14 regions in total affected.
In the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine, at least one person was killed and 30 others were hurt, and numerous homes were left without gas or electricity. Early on Saturday, Dnipro and Pavlohrad, two cities in the center of Dnipropetrovsk, were also attacked, igniting fires.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the overnight attack had destroyed 510 of the 537 drones and 38 of the 45 missile launches by Russia.
A 74-year-old man was killed in Kherson, Ukraine, according to officials who were present.
Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian general staff, claimed that the Russian forces have the “strategic initiative” and are conducting a nonstop offensive on almost the entire front line in Ukraine.
In a speech to his deputies, Gerasimov also claimed that Russian forces currently hold 79 percent of the Donetsk region, 74 percent of the Zaporizhia region, and 76 percent of the Kherson region, compared to the 99% that they did in the 1990s. He continued, claiming that about half of the area is under Russian control, with almost entirely blocking the city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region.
However, Viktor Trehubov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, claimed that Kyiv’s forces had achieved front-line victories, preventing Russian forces from attacking targets in the Donetsk region and halting further incursions into the Dnipropetrovsk region. He claimed that Russian units had been encircled in one area by Kyiv’s troops.
The Ukrainian military also asserted that Russia had attacked the Krasnodar and Syzran oil refineries on Saturday, sparking fires at both facilities, according to Ukraine’s military.
More than 17, 000 people in the Rylsk border town in the Kursk region were left without power, according to Russia’s TASS state news agency.
According to Acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of Kursk, 201 bodies have been discovered in the Russian region since January 1 following Ukraine’s invasion of the Russian region, and 590 people have still been missing.
According to TASS, Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported that its forces shot down 233 Ukrainian drones, one guided bomb, and four missiles in a 24-hour period.
Politics and diplomacy
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has been calling for a summit with Vladimir Putin, and he accused the Kremlin of using “the time meant for preparing a leaders’-level]peace meeting to organize new massive attacks” and demanded more international sanctions against Moscow and its supporters.
According to a statement from New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Zelenskyy over the phone and reiterated his support for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. He added that “India extends full support to all efforts” to bring about peace and stability.
Kaja Kallas, the top diplomat to the European Union, stated that the group would look into using frozen Russian funds to pay for the post-war eradication of Ukraine. However, she said it is no longer politically feasible to confiscate the assets, which are now worth 210 billion euros ($245.85bn).
Following the demand that the assets be seized and used to support Kyiv by some EU nations, including Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland, Kallas made his remarks. However, the idea has been refrained by EU heavyweights France and Germany, as well as Belgium, which owns the majority of the assets.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz blasted Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine, claiming that Moscow’s aggressive rhetoric toward the Ukrainian population was “resulted” by diplomatic efforts in recent weeks.
At a press conference in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Merz stated, “This will also not stop until we ensure together that Russia can no longer continue this war, at least for economic reasons and perhaps also for military reasons.”
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, outlined how his approach to Ukraine fits into his “America First” policy, stating that the US is “not spending any money on the war” in contrast to the “hundreds of billions of dollars” the US was previously spending.
He added that the US currently sells equipment to NATO and that it won’t send ground troops to Ukraine. We don’t sell it to Ukraine, they say. It is sold to NATO. Trump claimed that they pay for the equipment.
Weapons
Denys Shmyhal, the minister of defense for Ukraine, announced that the US State Department had approved the sale of Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine for an estimated $ 179.1 million as well as satellite communications services worth $ 150 million.
