Taylor Townsend hit headlines at her home Grand Slam tournament through no fault of her own, after Jelena Ostapenko confronted her at the conclusion of their second-round match.
Townsend later revealed that her opponent told her she had “no class” and “no education”. Former French Open champion Ostapenko has since received a lot of backlash, while fans have leapt to Townsend’s defence.
The American continued her incredible run in the singles draw by beating No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva on Friday night under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium. And she said it hadn’t been difficult to block out the nose of the post-Ostapenko match drama.
“I wasn’t hard at all. I said to my team, I’m made for this type of stuff,” she said.
“I really feel like, you know, it wasn’t hard, because I stood in my truth. So there was, I didn’t have to defend anything that I said. What I said, I said, and I meant.
“So, you know, for me, it was also good because I had doubles the next day. So I had to get right back on the page, because at the end of the day, I would never allow any drama or anything on the outside to deter me from what my goal is when I step into the lines on the court. When I step into those gates, nothing that’s happening on the outside matters.”