Everyone has their opinion..........
And here is mine........
Firstly Jelena Ostapenko was wrong to throw her racquet. It was silly and against the rules as it hit the ball boy. However it was 100% not intentionally aimed at him and I don't feel the force used by Ostapenko was very heavy at all. But I again repeat ... it was wrong to do.
The WTA referee was called and it was his call to disqualify Jelena Ostapenko. He chatted to the umpire and the ball boy and found it accidental and gave a code violation as punishment, though really if looking at the WTA rulebook it should have been a disqualification for the Latvian
The decision though is the WTA Officials. They are there to punish players if needed or make decisions according to the rule book. It is not the opposing player who should be making these decisions or demanding what should happen to a player or quoting the rule book. Naomi Broady got very upset and demanding Jelena be disqualified - something that was to be fair a little unprofessional on her part and to an impartial looked a cheap way out of the match with a walkover rather than playing a full match etc. She had no need to get so worked up.... she was about to win the set and was on top in the match.....
If any player was watching another player shouting, crying at the other side of the court trying to get you disqualified then understandably you are going to be quite upset...... I repeat the issue is between Ostapenko and the WTA referee. Broady only should have got involved if for instance Jelena had flung her racquet in the direction of Naomi and it was an attack on the player. It wasn't..... Jelena was just frustrated about losing a big lead in a set and took out this frustration with a throw of her racquet - we all know this is wrong.....
Broady then makes a huge 3rd set comeback to defeat Ostapenko. Again put yourself in Jelena's situation ..... you would also be upset with yourself and in a bad mood.... and she probably let her mood overflow to a few words of her dismay at Broady's antics when crying for her to be disqualified. Naomi then defended her opinion and gave as good as she got after the match had finished as we all saw in the GIF. But shouting at Ostapenko regarding her hitting a ball boy is again no concern of Naomi's..... it is the WTA referee's concern. Ostapenko wasn't going to disqualify herself..... it is the referee's job on a football pitch to give red cards etc.
People argue all the time, and people stick up for themselves all the time. Ostapenko was wrong for throwing her racquet without seeing where it was going....... Broady was wrong to demand her opponent be disqualified and crying/shouting on court. The WTA referee was probably wrong not to disqualify Ostapenko. EVERYONE was in the wrong at some point in the match.
Whilst it was good TV, it was unprofessional from both players...... and later on it as also very unprofessional of current WTA players to view their thoughts or should I say join the 'band wagon' and attack Ostapenko in such a open environment as Twitter ..... If they have a problem with Ostapenko they could formally complaint to the WTA about her or speak to the player directly. Instead they attack the Latvian on Twitter. Naomi Broady was correct to explain herself on twitter as it was constructive, Mladenovic, and Glushko amongst others where highly unprofessional in my opinion. So what if Ostapenko was a little standoffish against Kiki.... she lost a big lead in that match and was again understandably annoyed as a 17 year old junior champ for not closing the match out. As for Glushko..... why didn't Julia complain about Jelena at US Open qualies directly after? Why did she wait until somebody else had an incident then just add her cheap 140 character tweet? Be more professional ladies..... you are representing sponsors, your countries and most importantly yourselves.
I am a big Naomi Broady fan so I take no sides. I have given my views and I think it is quite a consistent one and that makes sense if you put yourself in the shoes of both players.
Lets hope both players forget and get on with their 2016 seasons. Broady had a fantastic week on Auckland, qualifying, reaching the QFs and defeating Ivanovic and undoubtedly Ostapenko has a big career ahead of her.