{"id":189306,"date":"2025-08-31T12:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T12:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/189306\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T12:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T12:10:10","slug":"taylor-townsend-didnt-know-about-jelena-ostapenkos-social-media-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/189306\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Townsend didn’t know about Jelena Ostapenko’s social media apology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Townsend hasn\u2019t heard from Jelena Ostapenko, and had no idea the latter had posted a belated apology<\/a> for their U.S. Open altercation. <\/p>\n

Townsend has been too busy winning her way through Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t know that. The fact of the matter is, like I said the other day, I\u2019m still playing, so I don\u2019t have time to be tapped in on what she\u2019s got going on and what she says,\u201d Townsend replied to a question from The Post after Saturday\u2019s doubles win. \u201cI had a job to do today. Got it done in the doubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a goal while I\u2019m here. I said it [Friday], just keeping the main thing the main thing, which is I\u2019m here to continue to grow as a player and play my best tennis and put that on display. Anything that gets in the way of that has got to go. So I haven\u2019t seen anything. I didn\u2019t know what she said. But I\u2019m still here, so I\u2019m glad that she has the time to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jelena Ostapenko argues with Taylor Townsend after their Aug. 27 match. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Jelena Ostapenko argues with Taylor Townsend after their Aug. 27 match at the US open. Getty Images<\/p>\n

After Townsend had beaten Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday, the latter had an on-court tantrum<\/a> when she told the American \u2014 who is black \u2014 that she had \u201cno education\u201d and \u201cno class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous players have subsequently come to Townsend\u2019s defense, including Venus Williams, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Ostapenko took to Instagram \u201cto apologize for some of the things\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnglish is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court,\u201d Ostapenko wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate the support as l continue to learn and grow as a person and a tennis player. Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsend has taken the high road, and responded with wins. <\/p>\n

She teamed with Katerina Siniakova for a second-round 6-3, 6-3 doubles win over Alycia Parks and Dayana Yastremska on Court 12. <\/p>\n

Taylor Townsend reacts after winning her Aug. 29 match at the US Open. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Next up is Barbora Krejcikova in a Round of 16 singles match on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s nice that she did that, that she apologized; that\u2019s fine. That\u2019s cool,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s a learning lesson for her. Like I said \u2026 you cannot push your expectations on other people. That\u2019s ultimately what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe expected me to react a certain type of way; and I didn\u2019t, and it infuriated her. Which led her to say things that are hurtful, that are belligerent, that are offensive, not only to me, but to the sport and to a whole culture of people that I try to do my best to represent the best that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova has followed up her breakthrough at Wimbledon with a strong U.S. Open. <\/p>\n

Amanda Anisimova reacts during her US Open match Aug. 30. REUTERS<\/p>\n

After knocking off unseeded Romanian Jaqueline Cristian in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, Anisimova is into the Round of 16 in Queens for the first time.<\/p>\n

This also marks the third straight Grand Slam that she has reached this point, with her advancing all the way to the finals at Wimbledon back in July. Anisimova will next meet the winner of No. 18 Beatriz Haddad Maia\/Maria Sakkari.<\/p>\n

Venus Williams, at the age of 45, teamed with Leylah Fernandez for a 7-6, 6-1 doubles win over Ulrikke Eikeri and Erl Hozuml, completed with her signature twirl at the end.<\/p>\n

The first week of the U.S. Open has been dramatic, between blowups by Daniil Medvedev and Ostapenko and Stefanos Tsitsipas.<\/p>\n

Daniil Medvedev breaks his racket after losing in five sets to Benjamin Bonzi of France during their Men\u2019s Singles First Round match on Day One of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 24, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

But some players suggested it may be the city bringing out the drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in New York, and the fans here \u2014 I love them \u2014 but they can definitely \u2026 you\u2019re on the wrong side of things, can \u2026 they\u2019re into the match. They\u2019re passionate tennis fans. They know what\u2019s going on,\u201d Gauff said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re used to other events, major events, happening in the city that aren\u2019t tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jess Pegula, from upstate New York, agreed the city may be playing a role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. It\u2019s just New York City tends to bring out just a lot of drama, I guess,\u201d Pegula laughed. \u201cI feel like the crowds, they\u2019re pretty crazy. They kind of get everyone riled up. Like you said, everyone is tense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Townsend hasn\u2019t heard from Jelena Ostapenko, and had no idea the latter had posted a belated apology…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":189307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[12663,62,15678,1464,67,132,68,20886],"class_list":{"0":"post-189306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-jelena-ostapenko","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-taylor-townsend","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115123311391507231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189306","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=189306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}