Townsend

U.S. tennis star Taylor Townsend wasn’t prepared for some of the food she would be offered while taking part in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals tournament in Shenzen, China.

She apparently was also not expecting the backlash she faced after she posted her criticism of some of the local dishes — which included bullfrogs, turtles, sea cucumbers and, in her words, “an animal lung” that was “sliced up” and on a skewer — on Instagram.

Those posts have since been removed, and Townsend has posted a video on her Instagram Story in which the world’s top-ranked doubles player apologizes “sincerely from the bottom of my heart.”

“I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences, which is one of the things that I love so much about what I do,” Townsend said.

“I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here … and everyone has been so kind and so gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all.”

The 29-year-old Townsend’s name was in the headlines during last month’s U.S. Open. After Taylor defeated Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the second round of the singles competition, the players appeared to have a heated discussion.

Afterward, Townsend told reporters that Ostapenko “told me I have no education, no class.”

Ostapenko later apologized on her Instagram Story and explained that English isn’t her native language. “So when I said education,” Ostapenko wrote, “I was speaking only about what I believe [is] tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.”

Townsend is one of six players representing the U.S. in the international team tournament in Shenzen. Earlier this week, she posted video of some of the food she and her teammates had been offered, apparently as part of a buffet. She also added a video of herself from later in the evening in which she criticized some of the offerings.

“I’m honestly just so shocked I like what I saw in the dinner buffet … These people are literally killing frogs. Bull frogs. Aren’t those poisonous? Like, aren’t those the ones that be giving you warts and boils and stuff?” Townsend said. “And turtles? And the fact that, like, it’s all stewed up with, like, chilies and peppers and onions and like, ‘Oh, you really made this a dish?’

“And then you got the sea cucumbers just staring there, like with the noodles, the only thing that we eat. So all in all, gotta give this like a solid 2 out of 10 so far, because this is crazy.”

One portion of the video, which showed portions of the buffet spread, featured the caption, “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen … and people are eating this,” followed by emojis of a melting face and a face screaming in fear.

The comments went viral on Chinese social media, with many commenters slamming Townsend as culturally insensitive.

Townsend’s apology comes as the U.S. prepares to face Kazakhstan on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

“I just truly wanted to apologize,” Townsend said in the new video. “There’s no excuse, there’s no words, and for me, I just — I will be better.”

So, more resource for Townsend but also, it would appear, more pressure to deliver, albeit his chief executive, Alex Williamson, would not talk about specific targets.

“We’re not putting wins and losses as a hard target,” he said. “I just think that you collapse in on yourself on that basis.

“We are really focused on having the best coaches with what we think is a really talented group of players with more coming through our pathway and that we expect to land us in the very best place for the World Cup and, before that, the Six Nations.”

Williamson, was asked the same question about Scotland continuing to finish in and around fourth in the Six Nations and whether that was acceptable.

“No, I don’t think that would be true of any part of any organisation regardless of whether it’s high performance or not because the moment you become satisfied with where you are, you are immediately going backwards at a rate of knots,” he said.

“We are extremely ambitious, we’re investing at a level in our high performance environment that Scottish Rugby has never invested before. I want to be the leading union in world rugby and this is the first articulation, I guess, of our intent.”

So, no pressure, then. Townsend will be given more support on physio and rehabilitation, nutrition and other areas. These are the pillars of the new initiatives announced by Nucifora and Williamson.

“I would say that Gregor has been hamstrung slightly by the way that our structure has been set up,” said Williamson. “We’re changing that now so going forward he’ll have a full-time high-performance environment that’s dedicated to him.

“For the first time the men’s national team will have dedicated strength and conditioning physios, nutritionists, coaching resources (that are not shared by other teams in the organisation),” said Williamson.

“Immediately, he’s getting an uplift of, let’s say, 40% in terms of actual available time from individuals and that’s a huge boon for him.

“And then beyond that we have a pathway which is being designed to bring players through not only quicker but also with all of those specialist skills already embedded.

“I certainly think that they’ve got all of the substance they need to be the very best version of the Scottish national team both men and ultimately for the women as well. We’re giving ourselves the very best opportunity to be successful.”

Scotland will play four games in the autumn against the USA, New Zealand, Argentina and Tonga. Their Six Nation campaign begins in Rome before the Calcutta Cup takes place in Edinburgh a week later. That will be Townsend’s 100th Test as Scotland coach.

Wales away, France at home and Ireland away complete the campaign, Townsend’s penultimate Six Nations. His best-place finish is third, which he achieved in 2023 and 2018. Scotland have finished fourth on five occasions on his watch.

Is that good enough? Is it more of the same? In investing so much time and money in trying to get Scotland moving forward on all fronts, a title challenge worthy of the name is surely the target now.

Townsend should enjoy the challenge, but the heat has been turned up a little, on him and on everybody around him.

Jelena Ostapenko has apologised for some of the words she used in a tense altercation with American Taylor Townsend at the US Open, which led to a backlash, with the Latvian stating that English was not her native language.

The controversy ignited after Townsend, who is Black, beat 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in a tough second-round battle on Wednesday before being dragged into a verbal duel by her opponent following their handshake.

Townsend revealed part of the exchange in her on-court interview, saying Ostapenko accused her of having “no class” and “no education”, adding in a news conference that the Latvian would have to answer if there were “racial undertones” to the row.

Ostapenko said on Instagram that her anger stemmed from Townsend’s refusal to apologise for benefitting from a net cord – when the American’s shot clipped the net and stayed in play – and accused her of being disrespectful.

Most players tend to hold up their racket in apology after winning such a point, following age-old traditions in the sport.

The altercation prompted four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka to wade into the debate, with the Japanese player saying that using the words that Ostapenko did were the worst things to utter to criticise a Black player.

“I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match,” Ostapenko said on Saturday.

“English is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.

“I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a player.”

Townsend said later it was nice that Ostapenko apologised.

“That’s fine. That’s cool,” she added. “At the end of the day, I think that it’s a lesson for her … you can’t push your expectations on other people. That’s what happened.

“She expected me to react a certain way, and I didn’t, and it infuriated her, which led her to say things that are hurtful, belligerent, offensive, not only to me but to the sport and a whole culture of people I try to represent the best I can.”

American Coco Gauff said Townsend, who will take on Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round, was one of the nicest people she knew.

Townsend said a lot of people were finding out about her following the incident.

“There’s a lot of familiar faces here, but there are a lot of people who maybe didn’t have any idea who I was,” she said.

“People being able to see me now, but then being able to go back and go into my history and follow my journey and figure out how has she gotten here, I think that’s super cool.”

Taylor Townsend put aside the controversy over comments made about her by Jelena Ostapenko to stun fifth seed Mirra Andreeva and reach the US Open last 16.

The 29-year-old American said her 7-5 6-2 win over the Russian was “bigger than me” as she reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2019.

Fellow players including Naomi Osaka came to Townsend’s defence this week after Ostapenko told her she had “no education” and “no class” after their second-round match on Wednesday.

Osaka said those comments were “one of the worst things you could say to a black tennis player”.

Ostapenko argued with Townsend after losing 7-5 6-1 and claimed the American doubles specialist had not apologised after a net cord landed in her favour.

The 2017 French Open champion denied any element of racism to her remarks and Townsend said she did not think there was a racial undertone to the Latvian’s comments.

After claiming one of the biggest wins of her singles career against Andreeva on Friday, Townsend told the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium: “This feels good.

“All I’m going to say is welcome to the show. I feel amazing. I’m really just proud that I kept the main thing the main thing.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me over these last 48 hours.

“It’s bigger than me. It’s about the message, it’s about the representation, it’s about being bold and being able to show up as yourself and I did that tonight.

“You guys saw the real Taylor Townsend tonight.”

Townsend, who will play unseeded Barbora Krejcikova in the fourth round on Sunday, took just 76 minutes under the lights to surge past 18-year-old Andreeva with some fearless shot making.

She came through a tense first set before running away with the second, hitting a total of 23 winners.

Taylor Townsend said she “let my racquet talk” after claiming Jelena Ostapenko told her she had “no class” and “no education” after losing to her in the US Open.

READ MORE: ‘No respect’ – Ostapenko and Townsend in US Open row

Available to UK users only.

Ostapenko unleashed a verbal volley at her American opponent for being disrespectful during their second-round match.

Jelena Ostapenko accused Taylor Townsend of lacking “class” during a furious on-court confrontation between the two players after their second-round match at the US Open, where the unseeded American defeated the 25th-seeded Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1.

Ostapenko spoke sharply to Townsend during a cold handshake at the net at the end of the match on Wednesday.

Townsend at one point said “I don’t have to do anything” to Ostapenko, who repeatedly pointed at her opponent. The American eventually walked away and shook the chair umpire’s hand and proceeded to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

“She told me I have no education, no class, and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the US,” Townsend told reporters after the match.

“I said, I’m excited, bring it. I’ve never been the one to back down from anything like that. I just thought that it was really interesting.

“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.

“If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well. That’s just the fact of the matter … it was unfortunate, but, you know, it’s something I can put on my TikTok.

“The thing I’m the most proud of is that I let my racket talk. Because ultimately, I’m the one here sitting in front of you guys moving on to the next round, getting the next cheque, moving on … and that’s what’s the most important.

“She’s packed up and she’s gone. I’m here, and that’s the only thing that matters.”

‘Very disrespectful’

Ostapenko said in a post on Instagram that she had been angered by Townsend’s failure to acknowledge a net cord in her favour during the match.

The 28-year-old also accused Townsend of breaching etiquette by starting her pre-match warm-up at the net.

“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 answer was that she doesn’t have to say sorry,” Ostapenko wrote.

“There are some rules in tennis which most of the players follow and it was first time ever that this happened to me on tour.

“If she plays in her homeland it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants.”

Ostapenko’s explanation failed to impress Townsend when she was informed of the Latvian’s remarks.

“I mean, it’s sports,” Townsend said. “I feel like people have gotten a little bit soft. I’m not going to lie. It’s sports. People talk trash. You know, people say things. Whatever, people get mad.

“Everyone has a right to feel how they feel. The problem is, don’t push your expectations on me. If you expect for someone to apologise and they don’t and you get upset about it, that’s your fault, not mine.”

Ostapenko received words of support from world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who revealed after her late-night match that she had spoken with the Latvian following the incident.

“I have to say that she’s nice,” Sabalenka said of Ostapenko. “Just sometimes she can lose control over her emotions, which is pretty tough.

“I’m pretty sure, looking back, she’s not happy with her behaviour.”

Smith has been a resounding success since taking over at Glasgow in 2022.

He led the club to the European Challenge Cup final in his first season, delivered an extraordinary United Rugby Championship title success in his second, and while injuries took a toll last season, Warriors still reached the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup and the last four in the URC.

Smith has been linked with other jobs throughout the season – most notably the vacant Wales head coach position – and has done little to quell talk that he is seeking a fresh challenge.

“We really like all three coaches we have got on the men’s side and we would really like to retain them,” Williamson said.

“So those conversations are ones I am having now and will continue over the coming weeks. But when it comes to Franco specifically, he is a fantastic coach. He has done an absolutely incredible job and I really, really hope that he will be staying.

“I am actually delighted that he is getting approached and that people are talking about him as being a coach for other people because we want the best coaches in Scotland and it would be frankly pretty disappointing if no one was talking about someone as high quality as him.

“I think that we offer a consistency and a clarity of plan that he will be brilliant in and I am really hopeful that he will be with us.”

Smith is viewed by many as an obvious replacement for Townsend, but Williamson insists such succession planning has not been discussed.

“I don’t think that we necessarily should be looking at our coaching group and saying that we are creating the bench if you like to replace gaps when they arise at any level,” he said.

“I think that we just want to make sure in that moment that we recruit the person who is very best for that role.

“When we are thinking about how we create a pathway that is going to result in us being highly competitive in 2031 and 2035, or 2029 and 2033 for the ladies, we absolutely have to nail that in terms of the continuity around our coaching because that is what is going to breed confidence in our players.

“Having Franco here is an important part of that. But equally, I think Sean Everett has done a brilliant job at the back end of the season. I think he is very proud of the way that team grew and I am excited to see how he goes with a very young player group next year.”