Taylor Townsend said she believes she handled a heated exchange with Jelena Ostapenko “gracefully” after the Latvian accused her of having “no class” and “no education” following Townsend’s upset victory at the US Open on Wednesday.
Townsend won her second-round clash in straight-sets against the Number 25 seed, winning 7-5, 6-1 against the 2017 French Open champion.
Ostapenko, however, angrily confronted Townsend on-court after the match, with Townsend stating that the Latvian had told her that she had “no class” and “no education.”
In a post-match press conference, Townsend was asked if she believed the comments had racial undertones.
“I didn’t take it in that way, but also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of being ‘not educated’ and all of the things, when it’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Townsend said on Wednesday.
Ostapenko later blasted Townsend in a post on Instagram, criticizing her opponent for not apologizing after winning a point via a fortuitous net cord. She also denied that the comments were racist and said she had never been racist in her life.
“Today after the match I told my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn’t say sorry, but her argument was that she doesn’t have to say sorry at all,” Ostapenko said on Instagram.
“There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was the first time ever that this happened to me on tour.”
She also took issue with Townsend beginning her warm-up at the net rather than at the baseline.
Speaking to the media after winning a first-round doubles match against Aldila Sutjiadi and Nadiia Kichenok on Thursday afternoon, Townsend said she was “proud” of how she handled herself during the on-court confrontation on Wednesday.
“I didn’t allow the situation to take me out of my character or to lose my integrity as a person and that’s what really matters,” Townsend said.
She said she has gotten “so much love and support” from tennis fans since the incident, adding that anyone she has spoken to has told her that Ostapenko was “disrespectful.”
“Even the mannerisms of her hand pointing at my face, like I’m a child,” Townsend said. “It was also very hypocritical. I mean, she’s not known to have sportsmanship… so to try and call me out over something that you don’t even do yourself is crazy.”
Townsend said she has spoken to several players about the incident but added that she has not received an apology or any communication from Ostapenko since the exchange.
Naomi Osaka, a two-time champion at the US Open, described Ostapenko’s comments as ill-timed and said she had made the remark to the “worst person you could ever have said it to.”
“I don’t know if she knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never gonna say that ever again in her life. But I mean, it was just terrible. That’s just really bad,” Osaka said after defeating America’s Hailey Baptiste on Thursday.
Townsend, who competed alongside Katerina Siniakova in her first-round doubles match at Grandstand, said she noticed a notable uptick in support from fans in the stadium in the wake of the incident.
She said the arena was “almost full”, adding that it was “almost unheard of” for Grandstand to be at near capacity for a first-round doubles match.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had that many people watching first-round doubles for me in my life,” she said. “So that’s exciting.”
Townsend hopes that the incident can show onlookers that it’s okay to be “unapologetically yourself.”
“It’s okay to stand up for yourself and call people out for their bull***t,” she said. “I feel like in society, especially for people of color, we are expected to be silenced – or sometimes there are times where we have to be very strategic as to when we speak up… In these types of moments, it’s important for us to speak up.
“No matter what attention comes, I think it’s about being unapologetically yourself, be happy in who you are, and never allow anyone to take you out of your character and who you are as a person.”
Townsend faces Mirra Andreeva underneath the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium in her third-round singles clash on Friday night and said she is “really excited” for the challenge.
