US Open doubles champion ‘had to postpone her own wedding’ because of Grand Slam | Tennis | Sport
US Open doubles champion Lyudmyla Kichenok admitted to missing her own wedding in order to compete at this month’s Grand Slam.
Kichenok partnered Jeļena Ostapenko en route to victory, with the duo taking home the crown courtesy of a straight sets win over Zhang Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic.
It marked redemption for Kichenok and Ostapenko, who suffered heartbreak in the Australian Open doubles final earlier this year.
But just moments after winning the doubles final, Kichenok revealed she had in fact been forced to cancel her wedding in order to compete in the semi-final earlier this week.
Speaking to Sky Sports after being crowned doubles champion, Kichenok was issuing thank yous to the people who’d got her this far, with the Ukrainian commenting: “Also my boyfriend, could be husband actually. Because we were supposed to get married this Wednesday but it didn’t happen!”
Presenter Mary Joe Fernandez immediately chimed in saying: “What do you mean could be? It’s still on, right?”
Kichenok then explained: “We had actually an appointment to get married this Wednesday but just because I was playing semi-finals.”
And Fernandez admitted: “That [the US Open semi-final] was more important.”
Ostapenko was next to share her thoughts, with the Latvian adding: “Lastly thanks to my team for always supporting us and it’s not an easy job so they are always there for us, we couldn’t be here without them. Thanks everyone so much.”
With the interviewer cheekily saying: “And now they can get married?”
To which Ostapenko replied: “Yes, I think it’s a good excuse to postpone it a bit and now win US Open and go get married, I think it’s pretty great, right?”
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