{"id":182254,"date":"2025-08-28T11:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T11:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/182254\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T11:07:14","slug":"u-s-open-foes-taylor-townsend-and-jelena-ostapenko-get-into-a-tense-back-and-forth-after-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/182254\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Open Foes Taylor Townsend And Jelena Ostapenko Get Into A Tense Back-And-Forth After Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 U.S. Open<\/a> opponents Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko got into a face-to-face argument<\/a> on the Court 11 sideline right after Townsend won their second-round match 7-5, 6-1 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Townsend, an American who is ranked No. 1 in doubles, said Ostapenko, a Latvian, who won the 2017 French Open, told her she has \u201cno class\u201d and \u201cno education.\u201d<\/p>\n

A reporter asked Townsend, who is Black, whether she thought there were racial undertones to those comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t take it in that way, but also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of being \u2018not educated\u2019 and all of the things, when it\u2019s the furthest thing from the truth,\u201d Townsend responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo whether it had racial undertones or not, that\u2019s something she can speak on,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cThe only thing that I\u2019m worried about right now is continuing to move forward through this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ostapenko later posted on social media about \u201chow many messages I received that I am a racist.\u201d<\/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,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

After the two players met at the net for a postmatch handshake, they stayed near each other instead of going their separate ways, as usually happens. The 25th-seeded Ostapenko wagged a finger at Townsend as they spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s competition,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cPeople get upset when they lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they finally stopped talking, Townsend went over to the stands and egged on the partisan crowd, waving her arm overhead and the noise from spectators only grew louder.<\/p>\n

\"NEWNEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 27: Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (R) argues with Taylor Townsend of the United States (L) following their Women’s Singles Second Round match on Day Four of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2025 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Clive Brunskill via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She and Ostapenko have faced each other before in both singles and doubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never been any history. I don\u2019t know how she feels about me, but there\u2019s no beef on my side,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cShe told me I have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the U.S. I said, \u2018I\u2019m excited. Bring it.\u2019 I\u2019ve never been the one to back down from anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ostapenko went on social media to post what she called, \u201cJust a small update about the match.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrote that Townsend was \u201cdisrespectful\u201d for not saying \u201csorry\u201d after being helped by a net cord<\/a> during a point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was (the) first time ever that this happened to me on tour,\u201d Ostapenko posted. \u201cIf she plays in her homeland, it doesn\u2019t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ostapenko also complained that Townsend began warming up<\/a> before the match up at the net, instead of back at the baseline. While most players do begin at the baseline, Townsend noted that she has started with volleying for years.<\/p>\n

Ostapenko has gotten into kerfuffles with opponents during matches before, including in 2021 when she lost to Alja Tomljanovic at Wimbledon. Tomljanovic accused Ostapenko of lying about needing to leave the court for a medical timeout to address an abdominal issue.<\/p>\n

Townsend recently moved to the top of the WTA doubles rankings. But this is her first time reaching the third round in singles at a Grand Slam tournament since 2023.<\/p>\n

\"NEWNEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 27: Taylor Townsend of the United States returns against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia during their Women’s Singles Second Round match on Day Four of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2025 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Clive Brunskill via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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In singles, Townsend is No. 139. She is the lowest-ranked American woman to beat a past Grand Slam champion in singles at a major since Kristie Ahn defeated \u2014 guess who? \u2014 Ostapenko at the 2019 U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that I\u2019m the most proud of is that I let my racket 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 Townsend said Wednesday. \u201cShe\u2019s packed up and she\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 U.S. Open opponents Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko got into a face-to-face argument on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":182255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[12663,405,62,15678,1464,67,132,68,10118],"class_list":{"0":"post-182254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-jelena-ostapenko","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-taylor-townsend","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-us-open"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115106076749596117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182254","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=182254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}