Tennis-Ostapenko apologises for ‘no education’ comments to Townsend

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By Shrivathsa Sridhar

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Jelena Ostapenko apologised for some of the words she used in a tense altercation with American Taylor Townsend at the U.S. Open that led to a backlash, with the Latvian stating on Saturday 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 press 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 benefiting 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 that 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.”

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar; Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Alistair Bell)