Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka says that she believes Jelena Ostapenko’s comments to Taylor Townsend following the Latvian’s second-round defeat at the US Open yesterday were “terrible.”
Ostapenko, herself a former Grand Slam champion, became incensed during the contest after she deemed Townsend to have failed to apologise for winning a point via a net cord. The pair came to blows after the match, with Ostapenko heard to have told Townsend she had “no class” and “no education.”
Although Townsend herself has said she does not believe there was any racial undertone to Ostapenko’s comments, criticism of the Latvian’s words has come in from fellow players and wider observers.
This was then followed by a lengthy Instagram post from the Latvian, who doubled-down on her stance and revealed she was also irritated by Townsend’s movement to the forecourt during the pair’s warm-up, while denying that there had been any racial element to what she’d said.
However, when asked about the saga in her post-match press conference, following her second-round victory over Hailey Baptiste, Osaka claimed that Ostapenko’s outburst was “one of the worst things you could say to a black tennis player.”
“I think it’s ill timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to,” Osaka continued.
“I don’t know if she knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never going to say that ever again in her life. It was just terrible. I think obviously it’s one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport.”
“I know Taylor and I know how hard she’s worked and I know how smart she is, so she’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.”
Ostapenko lost her doubles match the following day and did not complete her media duties after defeat, citing illness.
As such, she has yet to comment further on the incident itself or Osaka’s rebuke.
