Taylor Townsend is into the third round of the US Open, having beaten Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets.
And yet, despite showcasing remarkable spirit and great technical quality once again, it is not her performance that is stealing the headlines.
Instead, it is how her opponent reacted to the match, with a frosty handshake at the net swiftly developing into a full-blown rant.
Ostapenko has since explained why she argued with Townsend, in a social media post that showed no signs of an apology.
The American, who on the surface seemed to do little wrong, has now reacted to these comments.
Taylor Townsend comments on Jelena Ostapenko’s behaviour
Asked if she was at all shocked by the behaviour of Ostapenko, who had branded her ‘disrespectful’ and accused her of having ‘no education’, Townsend replied: “No. Are you? [laugh] Okay.”
She continued: “Like I said, it happened many times. Well, here as well.
“You know, she may be so, she might not voice it the same way, but, you know, the complaining and all this stuff is the same.
“So, again, it’s an expectation for someone to act outside of, you know, their normal behaviour or what they’ve shown in the past.
“So I’m not surprised. At all.”
By reaching the third round of the US Open, Townsend has already matched her best-ever singles performance at this event. She will now face a hugely in-form Mirra Andreeva for a chance to make some personal history.
Taylor Townsend explains why she’s proud of her reaction to Jelena Ostapenko’s outburst
Continuing, Townsend spoke with humility and maturity as she addressed a really tricky situation that was not of her creation.
Asked if it could ever be awkward at the net to pretend to be nice after a controversial moment in the match, she was defiant: “I don’t pretend that. I don’t pretend.”
She continued: So I’m very straight up, and that’s one of the things that, you know, I’m very real and honest, which is why I’m able to stand here and be real about, you know, my feelings and what I think, because I don’t put on for anything, anyone, nobody.”
This is not the first time Townsend has been embroiled in controversy through no fault of her own, as she would then recall: “So, I’ve had that incident one time at a challenger, many years ago in Charlottesville and, you know, Asia Muhammad actually had to, like, take me off the court because I was so upset.
“The girl that I played was so disrespectful, and we were playing a challenger, it was just 50,000. There are no ball kids, there are no ball people, and the girl was slapping balls to the third and fourth quarter, and I had to go walk to get the balls and, you know, I ended up winning, and, you know, said some really, like, nasty things.
“And again, it was one of those things I’m like, I’m just not going to tolerate disrespect.”
Townsend concluded by outlining her pride at her own behaviour: “You’re not going to disrespect me in my face. You know, I’m a firm believer, and I’m the type of person where, if you have something to say, you feel some type of way, you say it to my face and we can talk about it, and we can hash it out.
“Um, so, no, I mean, like, it is what it is, but I stand strong and, I stand firm in who I am, and, you know, I don’t back down from confrontation because, and again, sports, right? Like, you know, this is a part of sport.
“You can feel any type of way that you want to, but again, I just don’t think that you should push your expectations and how you feel about something on other people and try to make someone else feel bad about that, because you feel like they should conduct themselves in a certain type of way.”
