A tense on-court argument broke out between tennis players Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko following their second-round match at the US Open on Wednesday. Townsend, a Black American, won the match 7-5, 6-1, but the post-match exchange quickly became the focus of their respective press and social media comments.
During a post-match press conference, reporters asked Townsend about the argument. She revealed that Ostapenko told her she had “no class” and “no education,” and warned that she would “see her outside of America.” Townsend said she told Ostapenko that she should “learn how to take a loss gracefully” and stated, “I’ve never been the one to back down from anything like that.” When asked if she thought Ostapenko’s words had racial undertones, Townsend said she did not take it that way, but acknowledged the “stigma in our community of being ‘not educated.'” She added that only Ostapenko could speak to her own intentions.
Jelena Ostapenko later took to social media to share her side of the story and complain about messages she received calling her a racist. She wrote that she was “NEVER racist in my life” and respects all nations. Ostapenko claimed Townsend was “disrespectful” for not apologizing after winning a point off a net cord. She also complained that Townsend warmed up at the net before the match instead of at the baseline, which she called a violation of standard tennis rules. Ostapenko ended her statement by saying, “If she plays in [America], it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.”