Coming soon: Ostapenko's off-court look gets its own merch line

Jelena Ostapenko has lit up tennis courts worldwide with her self-designed match outfits in recent years -- and now the Latvian is turning her attention to casual wear.

ROME -- Amid the excitement of Jelena Ostapenko's title run at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix last month, eagle-eyed fashion fans might have noticed the 27-year-old sporting a new look.

Rome: Draws | Scores | Order of play

In her quarterfinal post-match interview following her sixth defeat of Iga Swiatek in six meetings, Ostapenko wore a turquoise T-shirt emblazoned with a cartoon of a female tennis player, swishing her racquet as hard as possible with an expression of pure effort and aggression. Sound familiar? Too familiar to be a mere off-the-shelf item.

After her 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Rebecca Sramkova on Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, she confirmed the year's hottest tennis fashion news: a line of Jelena Ostapenko merch is coming soon to an outlet near you. For the past few years, Ostapenko's self-designed collaborations with local Latvian brand DK One have made for the Hologic WTA Tour's most original and colorful looks, and now she's branching out.

"It's not tennis stuff, like match outfits," she said. "More T-shirts, hoodies and caps. It's in process, and it may be ready in one or two months. There are going to be logos, and some really cute tennis prints."

The project hasn't been all smooth sailing, as Ostapenko originally imagined. "There are a lot of people involved and a lot of work," she said with a sigh. But she's doing her bit for promo, trailing select outfits while retaining that all-important exclusivity.

"A lot of people have been asking me, because me and my boyfriend wear some of that stuff," she said. "Everyone is so curious and asking, 'Where can I get it?'"

The grin returns to Ostapenko's face.

"You can't. It's not out yet!"

The former Roland Garros champion is tight-lipped on further details:

"I cannot open up, it's going to be a surprise," she said. Though she did tease a double drop will eventually reveal the line.

In the meantime, she'll have a third-round date in Rome to take care of -- against either No. 12 seed Karolina Muchova or Italian Lucia Bronzetti.

Click here to read article