Taylor Townsend brushed off Jelena Ostapenko’s public apology with a sharp response at the US Open, keeping her focus on tennis while a controversy over alleged racist remarks continues to swirl.
“I’m still playing. So I don’t have time to be tapped in on what she’s got going on and what she says,” Townsend said after her doubles victory with Kateřina Siniaková.
“I had a job to do today. Got it done in the doubles. Like I said, this is part of it, right, being able to disconnect from whatever is happening on the outside, because I have a goal while I’m here. So I haven’t seen anything. I didn’t know, I don’t know what she said. But I’m still here. So I’m glad that she has the time to be able to do that.”
The tension between the two players began after Townsend defeated Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in the second round of the 2025 US Open.
Ostapenko took issue with Townsend not acknowledging a net cord point and accused her of lacking “class” and “education” during a tense post-match exchange at the net.
Townsend later revealed Ostapenko also told her, “see what happens when we get outside the U.S.,” a comment that raised eyebrows and drew criticism from across the tennis world. “I chalk it up to being upset and, you know, she pulled out all the stops to try and break the momentum. Sometimes people do that, but it is what it is,” Townsend said.
Ostapenko initially defended her outburst on social media, citing tennis etiquette as the basis of her frustration.
But after backlash—including from Naomi Osaka, who called the remarks “among the worst things you can say to a Black player”—Ostapenko issued a formal apology.
“English 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,” Ostapenko wrote on Instagram.
She also denied being racist, writing, “I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn’t matter where you come from.”
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Townsend, however, remained focused on her performance, choosing not to dwell on the apology or the social media fallout.
She acknowledged that being called “uneducated” carries a deeper meaning in her community, though she stopped short of labeling Ostapenko’s comments as racially motivated.
The incident has fueled broader conversations about race, respect and etiquette in tennis, especially in a sport where Black women remain underrepresented.
Townsend and Siniaková advanced in doubles play on Saturday, keeping her tournament run alive as the controversy continues to echo off the court.
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