NEW YORK (AP) — Jelena Ostapenko apologized on social media Saturday for telling Taylor Townsend she had “no education” after losing to her at the U.S. Open earlier in the week, explaining that she intended to call out Townsend for what Ostapenko perceived as poor tennis etiquette.
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion from Latvia, wrote in a post that English is not her native language, “so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe (is) tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.”
Townsend said she was unaware of the apology when she began her news conference following her doubles victory Saturday. She smiled while listening to a reporter read Ostapenko’s post aloud.
“That’s nice that she did that, that she apologized,” Townsend said, adding she has not personally heard from Ostapenko. “That’s fine. That’s cool. At the end of the day, I think that it’s a learning lesson for her. … It’s great that she went to social media and apologized. But I really hope that, from this, she can take that like, hey, you can’t control people and it’s better just to focus on yourself.”
After the episode on Wednesday, when the two players had an extended back-and-forth after shaking hands at the net, a reporter asked Townsend, who is Black, whether she thought there were racial undertones to what Ostapenko said on the court.
“I didn’t take it in that way, but also, you know, 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,” Townsend responded.
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Ostapenko wrote on social media that day that she found Townsend “disrespectful” for not apologizing after being helped by a net cord during a point. Ostapenko also complained that Townsend began warming up before the match up at the net, instead of back at the baseline.
Townsend will play in the fourth round of singles on Sunday.
