Taylor Townsend will be looking to build on a strong US Open campaign as she heads into the latter portion of 2025.
During the American’s run to the US Open fourth round, she had to deal with a rather spiky confrontation with Jelena Ostapenko.
After Townsend’s victory, Ostapenko berated Townsend at the net for apparently failing to apologise for a point won on a net cord during the match.
During the confrontation, Ostapenko labelled Townsend as uneducated. These comments were widely criticised, with Naomi Osaka saying they were ‘terrible.’
Following the US Open, Townsend has revealed what seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams said to her following the incident.
Venus Williams told Taylor Townsend ‘I don’t apologise because I don’t mean it’ after the Jelena Ostapenko incident
Speaking on The Pivot Podcast, Townsend detailed what Venus Williams told her after the confrontation with Ostapenko.
Townsend said: “Do you know what Venus told me? She said I have only apologised one time in my life. She is like I don’t apologise because I don’t mean it.
“When we played Venus she tried to put the ball through my partner’s stomach. She hit this ball so hard when we played her!
“I said she tried to take you out! And she didn’t put her hand up. But that’s okay. It’s competition!”
Townsend knows all about playing the five-time Wimbledon champion, having faced her twice in recent months.
Taylor Townsend says it was ‘surreal’ to play Venus Williams
The American star has battled against Venus Williams at two tournaments recently: the Washington Open and the US Open.
In Washington, Townsend and her doubles partner, Zhang Shuai, emerged victorious from a tough-fought contest, defeating Williams and Hailey Baptiste, 6-4 3-6 10-6.
In New York, Townsend and Katerina Siniakova comfortably defeated Williams and Leylah Fernandez, 6-1 6-2.
After the tournament, Townsend reflected on the experience of playing Venus, saying: “It was honestly surreal for me. It was really cool. Especially being able to experience that there. I have looked up to her and Serena for years, and it’s been really cool to be able to have accessibility to them on a personal level.
“I got the closest with Serena when I was pregnant. I went over to her house and she put a whole Amazon list together for me for all the things I needed to get for the baby.
“Those times were the most conversation that I have ever had with her. I know even in our culture competition is competition, I don’t care who it is. But when we are in this competition, we are not buddies.
“So being around them even for so many years on tour, it was never like [really friendly]. It was like you are out here and you’re another piece of competition, if I have to take you out, I will take you out.
“So it was a cool experience to share the court with her but it was interesting because I had played Venus in DC a couple of weeks prior to that. And we beat her in a tiebreaker, she played with Hailey Baptiste.
“I called my coach, and I remember on the court I was so mad at myself, because I felt like I allowed everything around who Venus is and what she represented and what she represented to me, and it completely took me out of being true to myself and the player I am.
“I am going to go straight through you, I am not hitting around you. You can see. As soon as the ball goes up the girls turn around, it is known.
“But I felt when I played her in DC I was hitting around. I didn’t want to hit it too hard. It was all of this psychological stuff going through my head, and I called my coach and said I didn’t like the way I showed up, even though we won.
“So this time we played her in New York, and it was obviously a much bigger stage, a lot more going on around it.
“I just said I am going to go and play tennis, and I don’t care who is on the other side of the net.”
