{"id":181351,"date":"2025-08-28T02:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/181351\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T02:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:59:09","slug":"jelena-ostapenko-appears-to-tell-taylor-townsend-she-has-no-education-after-u-s-open-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/181351\/","title":{"rendered":"Jelena Ostapenko appears to tell Taylor Townsend she has \u2018no education\u2019 after U.S. Open defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. \u2014 Jelena Ostapenko appeared to tell Taylor Townsend that she has \u201cno education\u201d after losing to the American 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the U.S. Open<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

After Townsend, the women\u2019s doubles world No. 1, had sealed the win, she approached the Latvian world No. 26 for the customary handshake at the net. An altercation ensued<\/a>, with Ostapenko telling Townsend that she should have said sorry for a shot that clipped the top of the net but stayed in play, known as a net cord.<\/p>\n

Townsend said she did not have to say sorry, and the altercation continued. Toward the end, Ostapenko appeared to repeat the phrase \u201cyou have no education\u201d three times before Townsend told her that she could \u201clearn how to take a loss better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsend then walked away, shook hands with the chair umpire and appealed to the crowd to make some noise for her win \u2014 and for Ostapenko\u2019s exit. The Latvian left in a car with her gear immediately afterward.<\/p>\n

In an on-court interview<\/a> with ESPN, Townsend said, \u201cIt\u2019s competition, people get upset when they lose. Some people say bad things.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me I have no class, no education, and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it. I mean, I\u2019m looking forward to it, I beat her in Canada outside the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement on social media, Ostapenko wrote that she \u201ctold my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn\u2019t say sorry at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some rules in tennis that most of the players follow and it was first time that this happened to me on tour. If she plays in her homeland it doesn\u2019t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a post-match news conference that was equal parts passionate, spirited, triumphant and raw, Townsend said this sort of behavior was nothing new from Ostapenko, who was sore about losing and let it show as she so often has in the past.<\/p>\n

Townsend said Ostapenko\u2019s words, charged as they were, are a part of sports, where people fight and win or lose and trash talk their way through confrontations both during and after the competition.<\/p>\n

She also said that he was not going to back down after an altercation in front of so many people live, and many thousands more watching on TV and online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just not going to tolerate disrespect,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to disrespect me in my face.<\/p>\n

She said there had never been any history between them, and that in the moment, she was thinking about acting in a way that would make her young son proud when he saw a video of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very strong,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very proud as a Black woman being out here representing myself and representing us and our culture. I make sure that I do everything that I can to be the best representation possible every time that I step on the court and even off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she did not take Ostapenko\u2019s comments as a dog whistle. Ostapenko, she said, would have to answer for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has been a stigma in our community of being not educated and all of the things when it\u2019s the furthest thing from the truth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that I\u2019m the most proud of is that I let my racquet talk. Because ultimately, I\u2019m the one here sitting in front of you guys moving on to the next round, getting the next check, moving on, being able to still be here and speak to you guys, and that\u2019s what\u2019s the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ostapenko later suggested that she had received messages on social media saying that she was racist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow how many messages I have received that I am racist,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn\u2019t matter where you come from. There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you, you can\u2019t use it in a disrespectful way to your opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ostapenko also criticized Townsend for warming up at the net at the start of the match. Convention dictates that players go from the service line, to the baseline, and then to the net, but there is no rule regarding warm-up positions.<\/p>\n

Townsend said she has been warming up that way for as long as she has been competing in tennis, going back to her years in the juniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t anything targeted towards her to try and take her off of her game or her rhythm,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cI just was doing my thing. Honestly, laugh at it. I think it\u2019s comical. I think that it\u2019s kind of funny, because to then go online and have to justify what you said, you obviously feel some type of way and feel like you have to give an explanation for how you acted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsend moves on to play either Anastasia Potapova or No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva in round three.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s packed up and she\u2019s gone. I\u2019m here, and that\u2019s the only thing that matters,\u201d Townsend said.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Clive Brunskill \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. \u2014 Jelena Ostapenko appeared to tell Taylor Townsend that she has \u201cno education\u201d after losing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":181352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,1464,29618,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-181351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-top-sports-news","12":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115104157770713881","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}