Jelena Ostapenko calls out 'disrespectful' Taylor Townsend at US Open

Jeļena Ostapenko gave her side of the story after her heated exchange with Taylor Townsend following their second-round match at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.

Ostapenko, 28, took issue with two separate actions by Townsend, 29, and let her know about it when the two went to shake hands after the American defeated her, 7-5, 6-1.

Townsend revealed that Ostapenko had told her she had “no class” and “no education and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S.”

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (R) argues with Taylor Townsend of the United States (L) following their Women’s Singles Second Round match on Day Four of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2025. Getty Images

Addressing the situation in a series of Instagram Story posts, Ostapenko suggested Townsend had gone against “the rules of tennis” with her actions during a net chord and when she was warming up.

“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 at all,” 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.

“In the beginning of the match all players are supposed to start warm up on the baseline. The opponent came out and straight away started the warm up at then which is very disrespectful and against the rules of a tennis match.”

Townsend pushed back on Ostapenko’s assertions during a post-match press conference, explaining that she didn’t feel that she needed an apology from Ostapenko, but didn’t like the fact that someone else’s “expectations” were being put onto her.

“If you expect for someone to apologize and they don’t and you get upset about it, that’s your fault, not mine,” Townsend said.

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (L) argues with Taylor Townsend of the United States (R) following their Women’s Singles Second Round match on Day Four of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2025. Getty Images

In a later Instagram Story post, Ostapenko said that she had received messages that she was a racist.

She flatly denied that race had anything to do with the situation.

“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,” she wrote. “There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you, you can’t use it in disrespectful way to your opponent.”

Townsend did say after the match she “didn’t take it in that way” when asked if she felt there were racial undertones to the comment, but added that it “has been a stigma in our community of being not educated and all of the things when it’s the furthest thing from the truth.”

Ostapenko has made headlines previously over volatile behavior, including last year at the Qatar Open, where she refused to shake hands with Victoria Azarenka.

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