Simon Cambers
Aug 28, 2025, 09:03 PM ETOpen Extended Reactions
NEW YORK — Taylor Townsend said she has received support from players after Wednesday’s on-court confrontation with Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open — when Ostapenko was said to have told Townsend that she had “no class” and “no education” — and is proud of how she handled the situation.
Townsend on Thursday said she had not heard from Ostapenko, a Latvian, since their second-round singles battle, which ended with Ostapenko berating Townsend, who is Black, for not apologizing for a net cord and then using insulting language and questioning Townsend’s intellect and character.
Townsend, an American and the doubles world No. 1, met with the media Thursday after her first-round doubles win with partner Katerina Siniakova. Meanwhile, Ostapenko, who lost her first-round doubles match with partner Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday, skipped her news conference, citing “medical reasons.”
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about it,” Townsend said. “Honestly, people have come up to me, I haven’t enticed any sort of conversation, and everyone that I’ve spoken to, who saw anything, they obviously said that it was disrespectful. Even the mannerisms of her hand pointing at