Naomi Osaka has weighed in on the comments made after Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend’s match during the U.S. Open.
On Wednesday, Townsend destroyed Ostapenko in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. Apparently, Ostapenko was upset that Townsend didn’t apologize after a net cord during a crucial point in the match in which Townsend won. After the match, when the two women met at the net for the customary handshake, Oseapenko reportedly told Townsend that she had “no class” and “no education.”
“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,” Ostapenko, who did not attend the post-match press conference, said in an Instagram post. She also denied being racist after she posted her initial comments online.
U.S. Open champions Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka were both asked about their thoughts concerning the verbal confrontation between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday, Aug. 27, that occurred following their match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Ostapenko ripped Townsend’s net-cord etiquette after her 7-5, 6-1 second-round loss to the American on Court 11, saying her opponent had “no class” and “no education.” The 28-year-old from Latvia did not attend a post-match press conference last night but instead took to social media to share 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. Ostapenko also denied being a racist after she posted her initial comments online.
After Osaka’s straight set victory (6-3,6-1) over Hailey Baptiste, Thursday, the two-time U.S. Open champ was asked her thoughts on the Ostapenkop-Townsend incident.
“I mean, it’s really difficult to say,” Osaka, the No. 23 seed, said, USA Today reports. “I think obviously it’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority white sport. And granted, I know Taylor, and I know how hard she’s worked and I know how smart she is, so she’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.
“But if you’re like genuinely asking me about the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said. I’m going to be honest. I think it’s ill-timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t know if she knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never going to say that ever again in her life. But, yeah, I mean, it was just terrible. Like, that’s just really bad.”
See social media’s reaction to Osaka weighing in below.
