Tennis Stars Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko Get into Fiery Post-Match Spat at US Open: ‘I Expect Respect’

Taylor Townsend may have worn flames on her outfit for her US Open second-round match against Jelena Ostapenko, but the 29-year-old probably wasn’t expecting sparks to fly after her victory.

After shaking hands on Wednesday, Aug. 27, following Townsend’s 7-5, 6-1 win, the two players appeared to get into a heated argument.

According to The Athletic, the clash began when Ostapenko, 28, told Townsend she should apologize for a shot that clipped the top of the net but stayed in play — known in tennis as a net cord.

In post-match footage shared by ESPN, Townsend could be seen saying, “No, I don’t have to say sorry.” The crowd’s loud boos drowned out much of the exchange, but Ostapenko was caught pointing her finger at Townsend several times.

Ostapenko looked frustrated, shaking her head repeatedly. As the argument wrapped up, cameras appeared to capture her telling Townsend, “You have no education,” three times.

According to BBC Sport, microphones also picked up Townsend telling Ostapenko to “take the L [loss].”

Footage later shared on X showed Townsend pumping up the crowd as she celebrated her win.

Speaking with ESPN afterwards, Townsend said, “People get upset when they lose. Some people say bad things.”

Townsend, currently ranked No. 1 in doubles, also claimed that Ostapenko told her she had “no class, no education, and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S.” Townsend responded, “I mean, I beat her in Canada, outside the U.S. I beat her in New York, inside the U.S., so let’s see what else she has to say.”

At her press conference, Townsend explained there was “never any history” between them and said Ostapenko was likely just upset that momentum shifted during the match.

“I chalk it up to being upset, and you know, she pulled out all the stops to try and break the momentum,” Townsend said. “Sometimes people do that, but it is what it is.”

She also noted she wasn’t expecting an apology from Ostapenko, despite what the Latvian player later wrote on Instagram Stories.

“There’s no beef. But again, like you guys saw, I didn’t back down because you’re not going to insult me, especially after I carried myself a certain type of way with nothing but respect,” Townsend added. “If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well.”

Ostapenko later posted a long statement on Instagram accusing Townsend of being “very disrespectful” for not apologizing for the net cord shot, saying most players follow an unwritten rule to say sorry in that situation.

She also complained that Townsend warmed up at the net before the match rather than at the baseline, calling it “against the rules of tennis.” However, according to the Associated Press, Townsend has used this warm-up style for years.

Townsend pushed back at her press conference: “This isn’t the first, second, third, fourth time I’ve played Jelena, so if she’s complaining about how I warm up, that’s fine. Everyone knows this is something I do. You can go back to my first-ever pro match — I’ve been doing this since juniors.”

When asked if she thought Ostapenko’s comments had racial undertones, Townsend said she couldn’t judge her opponent’s intentions.

In a follow-up Instagram post, Ostapenko wrote, “I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world. For me it doesn’t matter where you come from. There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you, you can’t use it in a disrespectful way to your opponent.”

She added that coming from a small country means she doesn’t have the same crowd support. “I always loved to play in the US and US Open, but this is the first time someone approached the match in such a disrespectful way,” she wrote.

Townsend now moves on to face 18-year-old Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva in her third-round match on Friday.