Life is sometimes not as easy as we think for young people who win their first Grand Slam title. Sudden fame and popularity can sometimes be more than they can handle for a while, as was the case with Ostapenko, as was the case with Emma Raducanu.
Elena Lebagina, who just won Wimbledon, may be going through one of those special times. She opened this year's north American hardcourt season with this week's WTA500 in SAN jose, but lost her first match 2-1 to kasakina, who came out as gay earlier.
Lebacina is making her first appearance since winning Wimbledon, and because there are no points at this tournament, the new Cowimbledon champion is ranked only 23rd and is not seeded in SAN Jose this week. Her opponent, the seventh seed and last year's runner-up Kasakina.
In fact, in the first set of the match Lebagina showed that she can be the last at Wimbledon. She overwhelmed Kasakina with 15 winners and 12 unforced errors to cruise to a 6-1 victory in the first set. Kasakina had just two winning points but committed 11 turnovers.
From the beginning of the second set, the match was in Kasakina's control. She takes as many shots as she can, waiting for Lebagina to make a mistake. Kasakina broke early in the second set to take a 3-1 lead and the seventh seed dropped only one game in the match.
Kasarkina made just nine unforced errors in the final two sets, compared to 36 for Lebagina. In the end, kasakina completed the comeback with a score of 1:6 :2 :0.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle after the match, Lebagina discussed her life after Wimbledon. She said she was kept in the dark at first, going to a series of events and meeting a lot of people. When she returned to Kazakhstan, there were many children chasing this national hero.
For three whole days Lebagina did not sleep, and then for five days she rested completely and did nothing. Then she calmed down to realize how special a Grand Slam title is. She gave herself a long holiday, almost a dozen days did not play, did not do any physical training.
It must have been hard getting back into the game. In fact, the first set of the match was good, but the intensity of the next two sets after a little out of control.
The good news is that lebagina still has a few weeks to adjust to the WTA1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati before the U.S. open.