*Flushing, New York – Taylor Townsend came back from behind, down 0-3 in the first set, to beat former French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 7-5, 6-1 in the US Open second round on Wednesday (08-27-25).
Townsend dug deep in her dynamic arsenal to right a sinking ship after starting out down and overpowered. She was playing in front of a rowdily supportive home crowd and on a very intimate Court 11, so she felt she owed it to herself and the crowd to give it all she had to swing the momentum. And it wasn’t their first time meeting and they had traded off wins, so it wasn’t a real surprise that Taylor, the world’s no. 1 doubles player and recent Wimbledon doubles champ, was able to figure it out and get the win.
What WAS a surprise (at least to us), however, was what occurred during the post-match handshake.
The final point was played, a powerful serve and a strong follow-up groundstroke by Taylor drew a wide error by Ostapenko, and the match was over. Everything was routine to that point. The fans all stood and cheered for their hometown hero, both players approached the net for the obligatory handshake … but that’s where things went off script. Ostapenko leaned in to say something to Taylor (inaudible to onlookers) and Taylor backed up to reply with an audible “Thank you!” Ostapenko mouthed a few more inaudible words, which then led to an obviously heated exchange as Ostapenko was packing up her bag, with finger pointing and flailing hands by both.
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The crowd had caught on to the combative energy by then and began “booing” the Latvian as she said a few more words then hurried toward the small court’s exit. Taylor was fully engaged at that point and began encouraging the “boos” from the crowd and shouting, “yes, get her *ss off the court!” No one saw that end coming.
It was clear that harsh words were exchanged, but the mystery was: what did the Latvian say to spark such a frenzy. It wasn’t until Taylor’s post-match press conference that it was revealed. When asked by a reporter what was said, Taylor revealed, “she told me I ‘have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the U.S.’ I said, ‘I’m excited, bring it.’”
The response blew our press-pool hair back!
One reporter asked: “were you shocked about what she said?” But Taylor, responded, “No. Are you?”
She continued: “It’s happened many times, you know, with other players as well. She may not be so — she might not voice it the same way, but you know, the complaining and all the stuff is the same. So, again, it’s an expectation for someone to act outside of their normal behavior, what they’ve shown in the past. I’m not surprised at all.”
Everyone knows that Jelena Ostapenko has a fiery personality and has a history of “speaking her mind” during matches, but the words she chose on this occasion seemed, well, outrageously off-color. Tennis is “a gentlemen’s sport,” they say. But Ostapenko chose violence on the day. Taylor didn’t seem all that moved by her words, though.
We in the press were tyring to coax the doubles champ into sharing how she REALLY felt about the insult, one reporter even flat out asking if she felt it was racist, but whoever her media coach is had her primed and ready to stick to the script of diplomacy and grace in the event of the inexplicable. She wouldn’t budge on the “I didn’t take it that way … she was just salty” script.
If there be any defense for the Latvian, she posted on TikTok something to the effect of “Taylor not making an apology at the net for when her ball hit the net, and then also during the warmup she went right into practice volleys, which is
“against the rules of tennis.” Doesn’t pass the smell test to us, but hey …
Taylor went on to explain how she is proud of how she defended herself in that moment and how she shows up as a black woman, a mother, and how SHE controls how she feels, not the opinions of others:
“Saying I have no education and no class, I don’t really take that personally, because I know that it’s so far from the truth and so far from anything,” she exclaimed. “Again, if I allow what other people have to say about me affect me in that way, then they win. So ultimately, no. I stood up for myself, and I kept in my mind in that moment how I wanted to portray myself and how I wanted to show up, and if my son were to see this interaction, how would he view it? I think he would be proud of the way that I handled the situation.”
Taylor may not have been aghast, whether she was being PC or not, but everyone else in the room were. In fact, had it been any other player of color on tour who was on the receiving end of such offensive words, they may have handled it quite differently than how Townsend graciously did.
So, we ask the question, do you feel the statement was racist and deserved of a greater response from either Taylor Townsend, her team or the WTA/USTA OR was it just a salty moment in sports from someone who lost a match as decisively as Jelena Ostapenko did after having a strong lead and being favored to win? Does she get a pass just because it’s her typical personality?
We’d love to hear from you. Scroll down and sound off!
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