French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko: I thought grass was for football

Jelena Ostapenko

Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko poses with her trophy in front of a sculpture of Suzanne Lenglen on June 11, 2017 after winning her final tennis match against Romania's Simona Halep. Pic/AFP

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko will head to Wimbledon as the sport's newest star admitting that she once believed grass courts were suitable only for football and not tennis.

The 20-year-old stunned World No. 4 Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to become tennis's most unlikely Grand Slam champion. It was her first career title.

Next up on the Grand Slam circuit is Wimbledon. However, she admitted that it was hardly love at first sight with grass.

"When I first played on grass I didn't like it, I didn't understand it," she recalled playing on grass at Roehampton in England as a 15-year-old.

"I didn't see how people could play tennis on it. I thought grass is for football. "But I learned how to play on it and understood the movement. Now I really like it."