Tennis stars Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko got into a heated argument at the sidelines after Townsend beat Ostapenko to progress to the next round in the US Open.
Townsend had won 7-5, 6-1 in the second round match, and the two players met at the net for a handshake. Rather than going their separate ways, they stayed close to each other and continued arguing.
At some point, Ostapenko waved a finger at the US player, like she was warning her about something. After the altercation, Taylor went towards the crowd and tried to get them to roar, which they responded to, with the noise becoming increasingly louder as she frantically waved both hands above her head.
This was not the first time Ostapenko had been arguing with her opponent. However, when asked about the incident. Townsend confirmed Jelena said she had “no class” and “no education”. She also said that if the competition were away from the United States, beating her (Taylor) would have been easy.
In other words, beating Townsend in the French Open and the Australian Open would have been a walk in the park.
Was she trying to insinuate that the United States was being biased? Who knows? A lot of people thought the comments she made to Taylor were racist and uncalled for.
Although Townsend did not read too much into it, she failed to hold her tongue, knowing that the ‘no education’ tag was a stigma for Black people.
Later on social media, Ostapenko iterated how she has never been a racist and was surprised at how people were spinning the narrative.
“There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow, and it was the first time ever that this happened to me on tour,” Ostapenko posted. “If she plays in her homeland, it doesn’t mean she can behave and do whatever she wants.”
She had concluded that Townsend was given an advantage, and it did not sit right with her.
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