Jelena ostapenko apologies to Taylor Townsend to US Open
If you are a tennis fan – or, if you have been online in recent days – you are probably aware of what happened between Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend at the US Open earlier this week.
If you missed it, here is the summary: after Taylor beat Jelena in a second round match on Wednesday August 27, the pair entered a heated argument in which Jelena said that Taylor had “no class” and “no education”.
According to CNN, Jelena initially stated that she was specifically referring to the finest points of the tennis label – in particular, a moment of their match in which Taylor failed to apologize after a net cord helped one of her won points. “There are tennis rules that most players follow and it is (the) first time that it happened to me on tour,” she would have published on social networks. “If she plays in her homeland, that does not mean that she can behave and do what she wants.”
The backlash that resulted in the world of tennis was, naturally, Swift. Tennis Superstar Naomi Osaka Told Reporters Regarding the Incident, “I think obviously is one of the Worst Things You Can Say to a Black Tennis Player in A Majority White Sport. And Grant, I Know Taylor and I Know How Hard She’s Worked and I Know How She’s the Furthest Thing from Unducated or Anything Like that … But if you are, like, genuinely asking me about the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she said.
Now Jelena returns her comments. “Hi everyone-I wanted to apologize for some of the things I said in my single round match of the second round,” she wrote in a statement published on her History IG. “English is not my mother tongue, so when I said education, I only talked about what I believe as a tennis label, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.”
“I appreciate support while I continue to learn and grow as a person and tennis player. Goodbye New York and I can’t wait to return next year.”
Taylor, for his part, told journalists yesterday that she had not heard of Jelena personally – she also did not have time to read her apology, because she is still in competition at the US Open (unlike Jelena).
“I don’t have time to be exploited on what she has and what she says,” said Taylor, adding later: “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t know, I don’t know what she said. But I’m still there. I’m so happy that she has time to be able to do this.”
