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A series of recent social media interactions have tennis fans around the world asking one burning question: Is American rapper Lil Wayne Jelena Ostapenko’s biggest fan?
Let’s roll the tape: The former French Open champion was first shouted out online by the generational hip-hop artist last week, when he reposted an interview she gave to Tennis Channel at this year’s Miami Open in which she dubbed his surprise appearance her “favorite part” of attending a Drake concert in the spring. The rapper, whose legal name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., reposted the interview on his Instagram account out of the blue — months later — and thanked Ostapenko by saying, “Thanks for the luv.”
But this budding friendship has hit a never level this week during Wimbledon: In another post-match interview on Tennis Channel after beating Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round, Ostapenko invited Tha Carter lyricist to attend one of her matches — and on Wednesday, he eagerly responded.
“He has like 19 million followers on Instagram, and when I saw this for the first time I was like ‘Wow, he saw it and he’s aware of it.’ It’s unbelievable,” Ostapenko said.
“He also sent me a message saying that he’s a big fan of me as well. So for me, that was like … I was staring at my phone. I stopped and I was staring at my phone for like five minutes. I couldn’t believe Lil Wayne texted me. I mean, it’s amazing.
“I would love to see him in my box, maybe when I’m playing in the US Open or when I’m in the U.S. I would love to see him watching me play, of course!”
The rapper’s eager response? “Ima have to pull up.”
It might be a surprise to see the Grammy-winning rhymer so plugged into the events of the tennis tour, but he has a history of enjoying the sport: The man they call ‘Weezy’ once accurately predicted both the men’s and women’s singles champions at the 2010 US Open (in a letter sent to Sports Illustrated from his prison cell, no less) and once sampled Elena Dementieva’s signature grunt into his 2006 track “Sportscenter.”
But if you ask Ostapenko, there’s a reason why her brand of tennis resonates with fans, whether famous or not. (Actor Steve Carell, on a tour of the All England Club with Laura Robson before the tournament also dubbed the Latvian one of his and his wife’s favorite players.)
“I think a lot of people really like that I’m kind of emotional,” she said. “Of course, sometimes I can go too much, but that’s my personality. I’m working on using emotions in the right way, to also help me on the court.
“But I feel like … I’m kind of fun to watch for a lot of fans!”
The Latvian’s Wimbledon campaign continued on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-0 win in the second round against Ukraine’s Daria Snigur.
Source: https://www.wtatennis.com/news/4051183/is-rapper-lil-wayne-ostapenko-s-biggest-fan-