The handshake at the end of a tennis match has always been more than a simple gesture. It’s a moment loaded with meaning—sometimes respect, sometimes resentment, and often a bit of both. Nowhere was this more evident than at the 2025 US Open, where Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend’s post-match exchange became the latest chapter in tennis’s long history of handshake drama.
On August 27, 2025, under the bright lights of Flushing Meadows, Ostapenko fell to Townsend in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. But it was what happened after the final point that grabbed headlines. Ostapenko, visibly frustrated, confronted Townsend at the net, accusing her of being ‘very disrespectful’ for not apologizing after winning a point via a net cord. Townsend, for her part, stood her ground and later revealed that Ostapenko had repeatedly called her ‘you have no education’ during their tense exchange.
This wasn’t an isolated incident for Ostapenko. The Latvian has developed a reputation for frosty handshakes and post-match tension. Eight years earlier at the US Open, she famously looked away from Daria Kasatkina during the handshake, prompting Tennis Channel’s Mary Carillo to quip, “Notice the frost on the fingers.” More recently, at the start of 2024, Ostapenko lost to Victoria Azarenka three times in seven weeks. The first two handshakes were no-look affairs, and on the third, Ostapenko merely offered her racket, earning a dramatic eye-roll from Azarenka.
Azarenka commented on Ostapenko’s conduct, saying, “I can’t speak for how she feels and why she does it. Some of her line callings, I mean, it can be a bit comical … that’s just how she is. I don’t necessarily judge. I’m just there to play a match.” The tension in these gestures sometimes reflects broader issues. Ostapenko, who has Ukrainian family and a Ukrainian doubles partner, has been at the center of handshake controversies with players from Belarus, a nation supporting Russia in its ongoing war in Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, handshakes between Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian players have become rare, with Wimbledon officially adopting the no-handshake policy in 2023. Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina summed up the emotional toll: “I do not wish for anyone to ever experience this. To wake up to the news of when your friends die on the front line, and being killed by Russian soldiers, it’s something that (is) really, really heavy on my heart.”
Townsend herself is no stranger to handshake drama. She referenced a match at the Charlottesville Challenger 11 years ago, where, after a particularly disrespectful opponent, “Asia Muhammad actually had to take me off the court because I was so upset. The girl that I played was so disrespectful. There were no ball kids. Girl was slapping balls to the third and fourth court. I have to go walk and get the balls. I ended up winning and said some really, like, nasty things. Again, it was one of the things I’m, like — I’m just not going to tolerate disrespect. You’re not going to disrespect me in my face.”
The 2025 season has seen a steady stream of handshake controversies, many of them gloriously petty. In June, Yulia Putintseva and Maria Sakkari faced off at the Bad Homburg Open. After Sakkari’s 7-5, 7-6 win, the handshake turned sour. Sakkari told Putintseva, “when you shake hands with someone, look them in the eyes,” and added, “nobody likes you.” Sakkari later said, “I don’t think she’s going to invite me for dinner for the rest of our lives, but I don’t care. I have very good friends and I’ll go to dinner with them. Let me leave it here, and just say that I have respect for her as a player, but that’s it.” Putintseva responded on Instagram, pointing out that her handshake style was typical among women players, not necessarily the ‘hugging protocol’ some expect.
Men’s tennis isn’t immune to these tensions. In 2018, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas clashed at the Miami Open after Medvedev’s comeback win. The two exchanged words at the net, with Medvedev upset about Tsitsipas’s behavior and a controversial toilet break. Their rivalry has since tilted in Medvedev’s favor, with the Russian leading 10-4 in head-to-head matchups. And in 2013, Novak Djokovic gave Fabio Fognini a particularly firm handshake—pulling the Italian toward him after a straight-sets win at the Shanghai Masters. Djokovic would go on to win the tournament, but not before making his point at the net.
Even handshake refusals have become a spectacle. At the Madrid Open in April 2025, Damir Dzhumur and Mattia Belucci engaged in a bizarre standoff—Dzhumur extended his hand, Belucci refused, then Dzhumur withdrew his offer when Belucci reconsidered. Dzhumur explained later, “When he moved his hand, there is no way I would give you another hand because I’m not a fool.”
For some players, the handshake is just a formality. Zheng Qinwen, currently sidelined with injury, has earned a reputation for her minimal post-match gestures. “If I lost, I will give you just a basic respect and that’s it,” she said in January. “That’s why you will not see me lose one match with a happy face to the opponent.”
Other players see the handshake as a necessary, if sometimes forced, ritual. Frances Tiafoe weighed in after the Townsend-Ostapenko clash: “If there’s a situation that needs to be had and spoken about, why not talk about it? You know, if you’re that p—ed, then sit here and talk about it. Man, I get it. It’s heat of the battle, man. You’re playing for livelihood. You’re trying to move forward. Money, all these other things. You are heated sometimes, and your opponent might be on whatever, and you just somehow you’ve got to figure it out. This guy has got to see me.” Daniil Medvedev, who was fined $42,500 for his behavior against Benjamin Bonzi in August 2025, said in January, “I can understand some people when they lose, you’re frustrated, you don’t want to smile at your opponent that just beat you.”
Paula Badosa perhaps put it best, dismissing the obsession with handshake etiquette: “Sometimes you have to be like, ‘hey, she’s still my friend.’ And in that moment, you don’t feel it. Of course, you don’t feel it, but when everything cools down, you’re OK again. But in that moment, it’s tough. And I understand when there’s a cold handshake and then when there’s a nice, a beautiful hug. So it’s very emotional.”
For Townsend, the Ostapenko incident is already in the rearview mirror. As she said, it’s something she can “put on her TikTok and leave in the past.” Yet the spectacle of the handshake—this tiny but mighty piece of tennis stagecraft—shows no signs of fading away. As long as tennis remains a battleground of nerves, pride, and passion, the handshake at the net will continue to be a moment of truth, sometimes icy, sometimes warm, but always worth watching.
