Taylor Townsend has become the face, voice and conscience of the 2025 U.S. Open. Her self-pride and assurance of who she is and what she represents has elevated this tournament just when it could have broken bad the other way.
Every chance this 29-year-old native of Chicago has had to go low these past two days, Townsend has taken the high road when other avenues were available after she was rudely confronted by Jelena Ostapenko at net following the American’s 7-5, 6-1 first-round triumph on Wednesday night.
There have been increasing debates about decorum and unwritten rules across the sports universe in this instantaneous viral social-media environment populated by influencers. There have been debates for decades about proper tennis etiquette on the court since Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe stood astride the top of the ATP rankings in the 1970s. No one ever turned away when either — or both — were on the court.
But this exchange went far beyond tennis, if it was ever about tennis at all. The first five days of the Open have been more about noise than about tennis, which has been vanilla. New York is noisy, after all.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
