Townsend through to US Open but tennis and ostapenko in Spotlight | Tennis news

Taylor Townsend is under the spotlight of the United States Open following an interaction which she wishes to have never taken place.

Townsend said Jelena Ostapenko told her that she had “no class” and “no education” during An argument opposite After their second round match on Wednesday.

A huge crowd applauded him in double Thursday, and Townsend took advantage of first place at the Arthur Ashe stadium Friday evening, upsetting Mirra Andreeva 7-2, 6-2.

By entering this big home, Townsend was not very close to the star power or recognition of the names of his American compatriots Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, and she is not even the head of singles. However, the 29 -year -old woman, who is half the best classified female team in the world and was not 1 as a junior player, has become one of the biggest stories in the tournament without any fault on her.

“It’s bigger than me,” she said on the field after the match. “This is the message, this is the representation, it is a question of being daring and being able to present yourself as yourself and I did it tonight. You saw the real Taylor Townsend this evening.”

Townsend hopes that attention around confrontation and that his attracting attention can be positive for the Open of the United States and tennis in general.

“If I am someone who can attract huge crowds in stadiums like a name that can bring people to come and buy tickets and support the game, then it is a crown that I will gladly wear,” said Townsend. “Anyway, whatever the type of attention it has brought, he does the right things, which led people to see sport and bring people to support and that’s what it is.”

Townsend, who is black, and Ostapenko, who is from Latvia, had an intense back and forth after Townsend won in two sets. When asked if she thought that the comments had racial nuances, Townsend said that she had not taken it in this way but recognized: “It was a stigma in our community to be” not educated “and all things, when it is the most distant thing from the truth.”

Gauff and Naomi Osaka were one of those who came to the defense of Townsend publicly. Osaka called what Townsend reported Ostapenko saying: “One of the worst things you can tell a black tennis player in a majority white sport.”

Even in private, Townsend said that other players approached her to approach the subject and express their support. Online, she won thousands of followers on social networks.

“It’s cool to know that people see you and people look and more than anything,” said Townsend. “I hoped that it had received a certain type, and it was, so it was just an external validation that I managed things in the right way and that is what I am most proud and the most satisfied. I was not looking for this, and in my answers and when I decided and I said people and I said I said that I was not looking for these things, but it’s nice to know that I made people proud. ”

Townsend is in the fourth round at the US Open, more than a decade after the US Tennis Association decided to retain it from junior competition concerning the concerns concerning its physical condition. The organization in 2012 retained the financing of its apparitions in tournament while it focused on the best form.

During the interval, she became a dominant double, winning Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open earlier this year with the partner Katerina Siniakova, and the pair is the head of Flushing Meadows.

Townsend, who did not go beyond the fourth round in a single in a major, will face the double champion of the Grand Slam Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday.

If she reaches the quarter -finals this time, she wants the lesson to be normal to defend you.

“Sometimes I have the impression that in society, especially people of color, we must be silenced, or sometimes there are times when we have to decide and be very strategic as to the time we speak, and in this type of moments, it is important for me to speak, not only for myself, but for my culture,” said Townsend.

“No matter what, no matter what attention or anything, I think it’s been shamelessly, be happy in whom you are and never allow anyone to take you from your character and who you are as a person.”