American tennis player Taylor Townsend—ranked #1 in the world in doubles tennis—responded with class and grace to Latvian player Jelena Ostapenko's racist rant after she lost to Townsend at the U.S. Open.
Ostapenko has been fined and criticized before for her unsportsmanlike conduct when she loses.
@juliedicaro/Bluesky
Unsurprisingly, some sports coverage fell over itself trying to paint Ostapenko in a positive light and Townsend as the aggressor. Players like Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Naomi Osaka have received the same treatment from the almost exclusively White tennis correspondents in mainstream media throughout their stellar careers.
Such reports got called out for their racial bias.
After New York Times' Lukas Weese tried to paint Townsend as unsportsmanlike—falsely claiming she told the crowd to boo Ostapenko—while he ignored Ostapenko's verbal assault and racist insults, a spectator corrected his misinformation.
@judithweisenfeld.com/Bluesky; @sifill/Bluesky
@judithweisenfeld.com/Bluesky
As with most people caught revealing their racism in a heated moment, Ostapenko declared herself "NEVER racist" in a series of Instagram posts where she again attacked Townsend and the U.S. Open organization, claiming she was treated unfairly because Latvia is a small country.
Ostapenko cited as justification for her behavior a tradition not all players follow and Townsend's choice of where to warm up. Neither thing Ostapenko used to justify her post match actions are required by any rules, nor are they universally accepted by all players.
You can see Ostapenko's own justification for her racist rant here:
@jelena.ostapenko/Instagram stories
Apparently not apologizing when Ostapenko wanted and warming up in a spot Ostapenko disliked are all that's required to bring on and justify racist comments.
Ostapenko eventually deleted most of her Instagram posts, leaving only her thanks to her fans.
Unlike her opponent, Taylor Townsend didn't take to social media to trash Ostapenko. Instead, she decided to show class and grace toward someone who needs lessons in both.
In a post match courtside interview, Townsend said:
"It's competition, people get upset when they lose..."
Ostapenko has a well-documented history of acting a fool when she's losing and after her losses.
"She told me I have no class, I have no education, and to see what happens when we get outside the US."
"I'm looking forward to it. I beat her in Canada, outside the US...so let's see what else she has to say."
In the post match press conference when asked about Ostapenko's racist remarks, Townsend said:
"I can't speak on what her intentions were...I didn't take it in that way."
Townsend did acknowledge that Ostapenko's choice of insults have long been used by White supremacists and other racists against Black people.
"But also 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."
"I'm very strong. I'm very proud as a Black woman being out here representing myself and representing us and our culture. And I make sure that I do everything I can to be the best representation possible every time that I step on the court and even off the court."
"Whether it had racial undertones or not, that's something she can speak on."
Japanese tennis champion Naomi Osaka spoke out on the racist history of the insults Ostapenko chose after losing to Townsend.
The four time Grand Slam winner, who is Black Haitian and Japanese, said:
"It’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority White sport."
"I know Taylor [Townsend] 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."
People applauded Townsend for granting Ostapenko the grace she denied Townsend in her post match and social media rants.
Ostapenko has been cited for her behavior before at the 2024 Brisbane International; at 2022 Wimbledon, which resulted in a fine; 2019 U.S. Open; and for a 2016 Quebec incident berating a ball kid, which resulted in a fine.
Townsend has no such history of misconduct.
