SHENZHEN, China — American tennis star Taylor Townsend has apologized “from the bottom of my heart” for making disparaging feedback about Chinese language meals.
Her unique feedback on social media — adopted by her apology — got here earlier than the US performs Kazakhstan on the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen, China.
The 29-year-old Townsend, who’s ranked world No. 1 in doubles, posted movies of native dishes together with bullfrogs and turtles and joked she would want to “talk to HR” concerning the high quality of the meals.
She took to Instagram once more Wednesday to apologize after going through a backlash on-line.
“I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” mentioned Townsend, who mentioned she understood how privileged she is as knowledgeable athlete to have the ability to journey world wide and expertise cultural variations.
“(It’s) one of the things that I love so much about what I do, and I have had nothing but the most amazing experience in time here and the tournament,” Townsend mentioned. “Everyone has been so kind and so gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all. And I just truly wanted to apologize. There’s no excuse, there are no words. And for me, I just, I will be better.”
Townsend acquired right into a dispute with Jelena Ostapenko final month on the US Open, when she mentioned the Latvian participant instructed her she had “no education, no class” after their second-round match.
Ostapenko later apologized on social media, saying English shouldn’t be her first language and that when she used the phrase “education” she meant tennis etiquette.
A reporter had requested Townsend, who’s Black, whether or not she thought there have been racial undertones to what Ostapenko mentioned on the court docket.
Townsend later mentioned it was “nice that she went to social media and apologized.”
The U.S. is scheduled to play Kazakhstan within the quarterfinals on Thursday.
