{"id":100781,"date":"2025-08-29T12:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/100781\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T12:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:37:08","slug":"naomi-osaka-jelena-ostapenkos-taylor-townsend-comments-at-us-open-one-of-the-worst-things-you-can-say-to-a-black-tennis-player-tennis-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/100781\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka: Jelena Ostapenko’s Taylor Townsend comments at US Open ‘one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player’ | Tennis News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Osaka hit out at Jelena Ostapenko over her courtside confrontation with opponent Taylor Townsend.<\/p>\n

The incident at the US Open on Wednesday has been one of the most talked-about of the tournament, with Ostapenko accusing American Townsend of having “no education” and “no class” following their second-round match.<\/p>\n

The comments, which Ostapenko justified as a reaction to Townsend not apologising for a shot that hit the top of the net, have prompted accusations of racism.<\/p>\n

Ostapenko strongly denied that on social media, while Townsend also said she did not interpret the remarks in that way.<\/p>\n

However, Osaka said: “I think obviously it’s one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport.”<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"ostapenko<\/p>\n

Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend had a heated exchange<\/p>\n

Ostapenko is known as one of the fieriest characters on the women’s tour, and Osaka added: “If you’re genuinely asking me about the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said. I’m going to be honest.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s ill timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t know if she 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.”<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka also addressed the incident after her second-round victory on Wednesday night, revealing she had spoken to Ostapenko following the row.<\/p>\n

“I have to say that she’s nice,” said Sabalenka. “She just sometimes can lose control. She has some things in life to face and some struggles.<\/p>\n

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n

\"Ostapenko\"<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka says she spoke to Jelena Ostapenko after her heated clash with Taylor Townsend and wants to help her with her emotions<\/p>\n

“I was just trying to help her to face it more in a mature way, trying to help her to settle down and just was someone she could speak to and just let it go.<\/p>\n

“I really hope that one day she will figure herself and she will handle it much better. I’m pretty sure, looking back, she’s not happy with her behaviour.”<\/p>\n

Ostapenko was back on court at Flushing Meadows on Thursday in doubles and may have feared a hostile reception from the crowd but that did not turn out to be the case, with cheers rather than jeers.<\/p>\n

The former French Open champion declined to fulfil her press obligations afterwards, with organisers citing medical reasons.<\/p>\n

Watch the US Open in New York, live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW<\/a> and the Sky Sports app<\/a>, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Osaka hit out at Jelena Ostapenko over her courtside confrontation with opponent Taylor Townsend. The incident at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-100781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}