{"id":117900,"date":"2025-08-29T07:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T07:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/117900\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T07:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T07:20:07","slug":"taylor-townsend-feels-us-open-love-after-heated-jelena-ostapenko-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/117900\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Townsend feels US Open love after heated Jelena Ostapenko moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The support that Taylor Townsend has received since a heated scene played out Wednesday<\/a> between her and Jelena Ostapenko following their second-round match in the U.S. Open was visible on Thursday, as she and doubles partner Katerina Siniakova played \u2014 and won \u2014 in front of a packed Grandstand.<\/p>\n

The heated exchange, which Townsend said included comments by Ostapenko saying that Townsend had \u201cno class\u201d and \u201cno education,\u201d have been one of the biggest topics in the first week of the U.S. Open. <\/p>\n

In response, a large crowd filled the Grandstand for Townsend\u2019s doubles match Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was, it was really cool. It was nice to be able to go in Grandstand and it was basically full,\u201d she said. \u201cHow often are you able to see that for a first-round doubles match? Whatever it is, whatever type of attention that it brought, it\u2019s doing the right things, which is bringing people to see the sport and bringing people in to support. And that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n

Taylor Townsend returns a shot during her doubles match win with her partner, with Katerina Siniakova against Aldila Sutjiadi, of Indonesia, and Nadiia Kichenok in the second round of the U.S. Open on Aug. 28, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had that many people watch the first-round doubles for me ever in my life. That\u2019s exciting and I think that it\u2019s going to continue the further that we progress through the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsend said Thursday that she\u2019s gotten a lot of support from fans and her fellow competitors at the tournament.<\/p>\n

Ben Shelton expressed support for Townsend when he spoke with the press after his win late Wednesday night and Naomi Osaka condemned Ostapenko\u2019s comments<\/a> as \u201cthe worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jelena Ostapenko (right) argues with Taylor Townsend following her loss in the second round of the U.S. Open on Aug. 27, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Townsend said she has not heard from Ostapenko, nor has she received an apology from her.<\/p>\n

Ostapenko lost in the doubles tournament Thursday, but did not speak with the press after the match.<\/p>\n

Townsend said that she\u2019s had conversations with other players at the Open, who she said had come up to her to talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone and everyone that I\u2019ve spoken to who saw anything, they obviously said it\u2019s disrespectful. Even the mannerisms of her hand pointing at my face like I\u2019m a child, just the things that she was saying, everyone said that it was bad behavior,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cIt was also very hypocritical, I mean she\u2019s not known to have sportsmanship and the best code of conduct, so to try to call me out on something that you don\u2019t even do yourself is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katerina Siniakova (left) and Taylor Townsend congratulate each other after winning a point during their second round doubles match win at the U.S. Open. AP<\/p>\n

Townsend isn\u2019t looking to continue the drama, she explained, but is looking it as a positive that so many eyeballs are now on the sport, and on her.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old will surely see a large number of fans the next time that she takes the court with Siniakova in doubles, and she\u2019ll be playing under the lights Friday when she faces Mirra Andreeva in the third round of the singles draw.<\/p>\n

With the greater attention on Townsend now following the incident, she joked that she hopes everyone sees that \u201cI stand on business,\u201d before explaining her larger hope of what people take away from the incident is the way she stood up for herself against Ostapenko.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think more than anything you guys can take away, people can take away. It\u2019s OK to be unapologetically yourself,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s OK to stand up for yourself. It\u2019s OK \u2026 to stand up and call people out for the bulls\u2013t, I\u2019m sorry to say. \u2026 In these types of moments, it\u2019s important for me to speak up, not only for myself, but for my culture. 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 and my actions as well. No matter what, no matter what attention comes or whatever, I think it\u2019s about being unapologetically yourself. Be happy in who you are and never allow anyone to take you outta your character and who you are as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI am more than anything just standing on business \u2026 and I hope you guys see that too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The support that Taylor Townsend has received since a heated scene played out Wednesday between her and Jelena…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[74827,99,24842,428,14687],"class_list":{"0":"post-117900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-jelena-ostapenko","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-taylor-townsend","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}