NEW YORK – Jelena Ostapenko took to the internet immediately after her second-round loss to Taylor Townsend at the US Open (7-5, 6-1), in which Ostapenko accused Townsend of having “no class, no education.”
ESPN cameras captured the confrontation that ensued after the match. Ostapenko, of Latvia, approached the net for a customary post-match handshake, and words were immediately exchanged.
Before her press conference with the media, Ostapenko went to Instagram to explain her side of the story.
“Today after the match I told my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn’t say sorry, but her argument was that she doesn’t have to say sorry at all,” she said. “There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was the first time ever that this happened to me on tour. If she plays in her homeland, that doesn’t mean she can behave and do what she wants.”
Apparently, that explanation didn’t sit too well with some on the internet, who called Ostapenko, the No. 26th-ranked player in the world, “racist” because of her behavior after the match.
“I was never racist in my life,” she wrote in a follow-up post. “I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn’t matter where you come from. Unfortunately, I come from such a small country that I don’t have huge support and a chance to play in my homeland.”
Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko got in a heated interaction after their second round match at the US Open.
Townsend is on to the third round. pic.twitter.com/cOIYzoyfmG
— ESPN (@espn) August 27, 2025
Townsend said after the match she’s “looking forward to” playing Ostapenko again in the future.
“Still, 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 said. “If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well. That’s just the fact of the matter.
Townsend will take on the winner of Anastasia Potapova and No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva in the third round.
Contributing: Cydney Henderson
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jelena Ostapenko response after Taylor Townsend confrontation
