NEW YORK — ‘Welcome to the show,’ Taylor Townsend said to a cheering Arthur Ashe Stadium late Friday night, ready to embrace a newfound popularity.
Townsend entered this US Open, well-known in tennis circles as a competitive player, friendly with nearly every player on tour, and most recently part of a dominant doubles pairing with Katerina Siniakova, who has won two Grand Slam championships in the past year.
Earlier this week, after beating Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in the second round, both players approached the net for a customary post-match handshake, and words were immediately exchanged, in which Ostapenko, who is from Latvia, had an issue with Townsend not apologizing for a net-cord, in which a player wins a point when the ball accidentally hits the net.
Ostapenko soon went to social media to explain her side, even going so far as to deny she is racist, after internet trolls implied that she was because of her post-match behavior.
Townsend, the No. 1 doubles player in the world, found supporters on her side, including two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka, who called Ostapenko’s comments ‘just terrible.’
‘It’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority White sport,’ Osaka said. ‘But if you’re like genuinely asking me about the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said.’
But Townsend, who is Black, has refused to let distractions get in the way of the goal of winning championships, and she showed that Friday after dismantling No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-2 to reach the fourth round in singles for the first time in six years.
‘It’s bigger than me,’ Townsend said after the match. ‘It’s about the message. It’s about the representation. It’s about being bold and being able to show up as yourself, and I did that tonight. You guys saw the real Taylor Townsend tonight.’
The real Taylor Townsend, a Chicago native, recalls more than a decade ago, when the US Tennis Association did not fund her tournament appearances due to concerns about her fitness. She is also the mother to her four-year-old son, Adyn Aubrey Johnson, whom she dedicated her victory over Andreeva to.
As Townsend puts it, the last 48 hours after the Ostapenko incident haven’t been hard at all because she ‘made for this type of stuff’ and ‘because I stood in my truth.’ And honestly, she hasn’t had time to think about it because she is still competing in the doubles tournament.
Indeed, Townsend, who is the 139th-ranked singles player in the world, is using the dust-up with Ostapenko to remind people that she is not about to be quiet about anything, and standing up for yourself is essential.
‘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, and in these type of moments, it’s important for me to speak up, not only for myself but for my culture,’ Townsend said.
‘No matter what, no matter what attention comes or whatever, 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 has her work cut out for her if she wants to advance to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time in her singles career. On Sunday, she takes on two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejčíková, who defeated Emma Navarro in an exciting three-set match.
With another victory, whether in doubles or singles play, she can officially put the issue of not being recognized behind her, gaining thousands of new followers on social media with each passing day.
‘It’s a different type of exposure, my social media and all of the people being able to have access and things to say,’ Townsend said. ‘I said to my team, ‘Dang, I didn’t know this many people had my phone number.”
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
