NEW YORK — Taylor Townsend said she has received support from players after Wednesday’s on-court confrontation with Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open — when Ostapenko was said to have told Townsend that she had “no class” and “no education” — and is proud of how she handled the situation.
Townsend on Thursday said she had not heard from Ostapenko, a Latvian, since their second-round singles battle, which ended with Ostapenko berating Townsend, who is Black, for not apologizing for a net cord and then using insulting language and questioning Townsend’s intellect and character.
Townsend, an American and the doubles world No. 1, met with the media Thursday after her first-round doubles win with partner Katerina Siniakova. Meanwhile, Ostapenko, who lost her first-round doubles match with partner Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday, skipped her news conference, citing “medical reasons.”
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about it,” Townsend said. “Honestly, people have come up to me, I haven’t enticed any sort of conversation, and everyone that I’ve spoken to, who saw anything, they obviously said that it was disrespectful. Even the mannerisms of her hand pointing at my face, like I’m a child, and just the things that she was saying.
“Everyone said that it was bad behavior. And it was also very hypocritical. She’s not known to have sportsmanship, doesn’t have the best code of conduct. So to try and call me out on something that you don’t even do yourself is crazy. I spoke to several players about it, but I’m not that kind of person to keep drama going. I’m very clear as to where I stand and how I feel about the situation.”
Townsend reiterated that she felt she had “handled the situation very gracefully.”
“I’m really proud of the way that I handled it,” she said. “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. I’ve gotten so much love and support from so many people and that’s really what it’s about, being able to come together and support.”
Several leading players, including Naomi Osaka, supported Townsend on Thursday.
“Obviously, it’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority white sport,” said Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion whose father is from Haiti and mother is from Japan. “And granted, I know Taylor, and I know how hard she’s worked, and I know how smart she is, so she’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.”
Osaka said replays of the Ostapenko-Townsend confrontation have “been on the TV, like, every 15 minutes.”
Ostapenko has gotten into kerfuffles with opponents before.
“I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said, I’m going to be honest,” Osaka said. “I think it’s ill timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t know if [Ostapenko] knows the history of it in America, but I know she’s never going to say that ever again in her life.
“… It was just terrible. Like, that’s just really bad.”
Townsend was asked Wednesday whether she thought there were racial undertones to Ostapenko’s comments.
“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.
“So, whether it had racial undertones or not, that’s something she can speak on. The only thing that I’m worried about right now is continuing to move forward through this tournament.”
“It’s OK to stand up for yourself. It’s OK to stand up and call people out for the bulls—. I’m sorry to say, because sometimes, I feel like in society, especially people of color, we are expected to be silenced, or sometimes there are times where we have to decide and be very strategic as to when we speak up. In these types of moments, it’s important for me to speak up, not only for myself, but for my culture.”
Taylor Townsend
Ostapenko posted on social media Wednesday that she had received many messages “that I am a racist.”
“I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world,” Ostapenko posted. “For me it doesn’t matter where you come from.”
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka said she had spoken to Ostapenko after the match and had tried to “settle her down.”
“I have to say that she’s nice,” Sabalenka said. “She just sometimes can lose control. She has some things in life to face and some struggles. … I think she just sometimes can just lose control over her emotions, which is pretty tough.
“I really hope that one day she will figure herself, and she will handle it much better.”
Coco Gauff also opined that Ostapenko’s emotions had likely boiled over in the “heat of the moment” but added that she should not have said what she did.
“Knowing Taylor personally, she’s the opposite of that. She’s one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. Whenever I’ve had a tough moment on court, she’s texting me, making sure, checking in on how I am,” Gauff said. “So yeah, I really hate to see that. Maybe this is some of the first people hearing who Taylor Townsend is, and I don’t want that to be the main focus of who she is, because she’s a lot more than that. She’s a mom. She’s a great friend. She’s a talented tennis player and a good person.”
Townsend said she had felt the love of the New York crowd, who flocked to Grandstand Court to watch her doubles match alongside Siniakova.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had that many people watch the first-round doubles for me ever in my life,” Townsend said. “So, that’s exciting and I think that it’s going to continue the further that we progress through the tournament.”
Townsend said she was not looking for “external validation,” but said she wanted to show people, “It’s OK to be unapologetically yourself.”
“It’s OK to stand up for yourself,” Townsend said. “It’s OK to stand up and call people out for the bulls—. I’m sorry to say, because sometimes, I feel like in society, especially people of color, we are expected to be silenced, or sometimes, there are times where we have to decide and be very strategic as to when we speak up.
“In these types of moments, it’s important for me to speak up, not only for myself, but for my culture. And like I said in my press conference yesterday, I carry that, and I take it very seriously. Not only by the words that I speak and the things that I say, but how I carry myself, my actions, as well.”
