NEW YORK — The post-match back-and-forth between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko remained a subject of dialog on the US Open 24 hours afterward Thursday — however not for Ostapenko, who skipped talking at a information convention, citing “medical reasons.”
Townsend, an American who’s ranked No. 1 in doubles, and Ostapenko, a Latvian who gained the 2017 French Open in singles, had been again on courtroom in separate doubles matches on Thursday. Townsend and her companion, Katerina Siniakova, gained theirs; Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova, misplaced theirs.
On Wednesday, after Townsend’s straight-set victory over Ostapenko in singles, they’d an prolonged argument after shaking fingers up on the web — and Townsend, who’s Black, stated Ostapenko referred to as her “uneducated” whereas wagging a finger.
“Anyone and everyone that I’ve spoken to who saw anything, they obviously said that it was disrespectful,” Townsend said. “Even the mannerisms of her hand pointing at my face like I’m a child, and just the things that she was saying, everyone said that it was bad behaviour.”
Ostapenko stated afterward on social media that she was bothered by two issues Townsend did: start the warmup by volleying as an alternative of hitting pictures from the baseline — which could be uncommon, however is one thing the American usually does and is throughout the guidelines — and never apologizing after profitable some extent with assist from the ball going off the web’s tape.
Townsend discovered these critiques “hypocritical,” she stated Thursday.
“I mean, she’s not known to have sportsmanship and have the best code of conduct,” Townsend stated, “so to try and call me out on something that you don’t even do yourself is crazy.”
When the topic of Townsend-Ostapenko initially was raised at Naomi Osaka’s information convention following her 6-3, 6-1 win over Hailey Baptiste within the second spherical Thursday, the four-time Grand Slam champion stated: “I saw that part, obviously. It’s been on the TV, like, every 15 minutes.”
“Obviously, it’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority white sport,” stated Osaka, whose father is from Haiti and mom is from Japan. “And granted, I know Taylor, and I know how hard she’s worked, and I know how smart she is, so she’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.”
After profitable her second-round match Thursday night time, Coco Gauff described the episode as “a heat-of-the-moment factor. I believe Jelena was most likely feeling feelings after she misplaced.”
“I do think that that shouldn’t have been said, regardless of how you’re feeling. … Knowing Taylor personally, she’s the opposite of that. She’s one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met,” Gauff said. “Whenever I’ve had a tough moment on court, she’s texting me, making sure, checking in on how I am. So I really hate to see that.”
As for Ostapenko, particularly, who has gotten into kerfuffles with opponents earlier than, Osaka stated: “I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said. I’m going to be honest. I think it’s ill timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t know if (Ostapenko) knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never going to say that ever again in her life. … It was just terrible. Like, that’s just really bad.”
Townsend was requested Wednesday whether or not she thought there have been racial undertones to Ostapenko’s feedback.
“I didn’t take it in that way, but also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of being ‘not educated’ and all of the things, when it’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Townsend responded.
“So whether it had racial undertones or not, that’s something she can speak on,” Townsend stated. “The only thing that I’m worried about right now is continuing to move forward through this tournament.”
Wanting again a day later, Townsend stated she had acquired a number of help.
“I felt like I handled the situation very gracefully, and I’m really proud of the way that I handled it,” Townsend stated Thursday. “I didn’t allow the situation to take me out of my character or to lose my integrity as a person, and that’s what really matters.”
Ostapenko posted on social media Wednesday that she had acquired many messages “that I am a racist.”
“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,” she wrote.
