Taylor Townsend continues to prove her doubles dominance as she and her partner Katerina Siniakova won the women’s tournament at the US Open on Friday, Sept. 11.
The duo’s win marks their fourth major title victory completing a career grand slam for both players. Townsend and Siniakova defeated Ashlyn Krueger and Robin Montgomery in three sets to take home the trophy. The pair have become a dominating presence on the court and are the team to beat when it comes to women’s doubles.
During their victory speeches, Townsend used her platform to shine a light on the Black players who have been dominating during this year’s US Open including Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Robin Montgomery, Francis Tiafoe, and Ben Shelton. With a lot of people still hoping to keep diversity out of the sport, Black players remain persistent in their greatness.
“I also just take a lot pride in this as a Black woman being here,” she said. “It’s two Black women here in this finals. There’s two Black men in the semifinals and this is a phenomenal time for tennis, for inspiration, for representation.”
She also addressed the former World No. 6 player Chanda Rubin, who was conducting the interview on behalf of ESPN saying,
“Chanda, it means a lot for you to be standing here as well because you paved the way for us as well. So thank you. This is a phenomenal time for tennis, and it’s just getting started.”
Townsend also showed she could dominate on her own at this year’s Open by going toe to toe in the first few rounds, proving that she’s also a dominate singles player to watch. Her career has been fraught with ups and downs despite the fact that she was ranked as the No.1 juniors player when she started. Criticisms about her weight and her style of play resulted in her not being properly supported by brands throughout much of her early career.
However, like a true champion of the sport, she has turned all the doubt into motivation for herself. After her deal with Nike concluded in 2017 and with no other deals, she started her own clothing line, wearing its designs during her matches. This year, she’s been collaborating with stylist J Bolin, proving herself to be one of tennis’ rising fashionistas. And, of course, she’s still winning on the court.
Despite the tennis world’s hot and cold relationship with Townsend, she still showed love to the fans at the Open, who showed her love both during her singles matches as well as her doubles with Siniakova.
“I just want to say thank you to you guys,” Townsend said to the fans who packed out the New York stadium. “This atmosphere is so amazing from start to finish of this tournament, you guys have showed up for us, and the doubles has been something that we take a lot of pride in. So, thank you so much for showing up every single match, packing the stadium. It has been phenomenal. We love playing in front of you guys. So, shout out to you guys. Thank you so, so much.”
We’ll always be rooting for Taylor!
