Tennis, in a very literal sense, is the sport of love.
Therefore, it is only appropriate that this year's U.S. Open provided a marriage story for the ages.
On Friday, Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia bested Zhang Shuai of China and Kristina Mladenovic of France 6–4, 6–3 to capture the U.S. Open women's doubles crown.
Interviewed on the court after the match, Kichenok revealed that her deep run in the tournament meant she had to postpone marrying her boyfriend.
"My boyfriend—could-be husband, actually, because we were supposed to get married this Wednesday, but it didn't happen," Kichenok chuckled.
Scheduling your wedding in the middle of a Grand Slam when you’re that good of a tennis player?
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 6, 2024
Unforced error, Lyudmyla Kichenok 😅💍 pic.twitter.com/rnRDx8ut3s
Instead, Kichenok spent Wednesday with Ostapenko—dusting Chinese Taipei's Chan Hao-ching and Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals.
"We actually had an appointment to get married this Wednesday, but just because I was playing the semifinals," Kichenok said.
The title was Kichenok's first doubles major win in two tries; she and Ostapenko reached the Australian Open women's final in January.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as U.S. Open Doubles Champ Recounts Having to Move Wedding Due to Deep Tournament Run.
