SHENZHEN, China (AP) \u2014 American tennis star Taylor Townsend has apologized \u201cfrom the bottom of my heart\u201d for making disparaging comments about Chinese food.<\/p>\n
Her original comments on social media \u2014 followed by her apology \u2014 came before the United States plays Kazakhstan at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen, China.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old Townsend, who is ranked world No. 1 in doubles, posted videos of local dishes including bullfrogs and turtles and joked she would need to \u201ctalk to HR\u201d about the quality of the food.<\/p>\n
She took to Instagram<\/a> again Wednesday to apologize after facing a backlash online.<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart,\u201d said Townsend, who said she understood how privileged she is as a professional athlete to be able to travel around the world and experience cultural differences.<\/p>\n \u201c(It\u2019s) one of the things that I love so much about what I do, and I have had nothing but the most amazing experience in time here and the tournament,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cEveryone has been so kind and so gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all. And I just truly wanted to apologize. There\u2019s no excuse, there are no words. And for me, I just, I will be better.\u201d<\/p>\n Townsend got into a dispute with Jelena Ostapenko<\/a> last month at the U.S. Open, when she said the Latvian player told her she had \u201cno education, no class\u201d after their second-round match.<\/p>\n