EXCLUSIVE: LIKE MULTIPLE GRAND SLAM CHAMPION, SERENA WILLIAMS, TAYLOR TOWNSEND IS BIG, BOLD, BEAUTIFUL AND A WIMBLEDON CHAMPION!! SEE MORE EXCITING COMPARISONS BETWEEN THESE TWO CHAMPIONS THAT WILL AMAZE YOU…

Continuing in the Players Tribune column, Taylor Townsend admitted that seeing the USTA discriminating against her based on her weight, despite her personal doctor vouching for her, hurt her very badly.

“Why is my ranking saying I’m the best in the world….. and my doctor is saying I’m okay to play….. and meanwhile the USTA is saying I need to see a nutritionist….. and lose some weight???” Taylor Townsend said.
“It made no sense. It was confusing as hell. And it hurt — it hurt really bad,” she added.

The American credited her mother for shielding her from such unsavory attacks, right from her childhood when other parents used to pass comments about her behind her back.

“My mom was the one who shielded me from all that. She was always like, “You’re a child — you should stay in a child’s place. Let me deal with the grown-up stuff.” So for the most part, me and Symone, we just went out and played. But we still knew what was going on.”

“We’d overhear them talking about it, see the looks on their faces, stuff like that. And it was tough. Seeing how you’re making things hard on your family? That’s tough at any age,” Taylor Townsend said.

Townsend believed that the disparaging comments about her weight was also racially motivated, as America was not ready to see a ‘big Black girl’ dominating the junior tour at the time.

“And the thing about those parents who would say sh*t about me — it was like they felt their kids were the ones getting robbed of an opportunity. Like they weren’t getting the “country club tennis experience” they had signed up for. Tennis was supposed to be “their” sport. And yet here was their kid, getting beat by a big Black girl,” Townsend said.

In the aftermath of the USTA controversy, Taylor Townsend split from her coaches at the association and entrusted the help of Zina Garrison, a former Wimbledon finalist and Olympic doubles gold medalist. Garrison stayed in-charge of the American until 2015.

Townsend’s career suffered a minor slump between 2018 and 2021, when a spate of injuries prevented her from playing and pushed her out of the top 100 in both singles and doubles rankings. However, since 2022 after coming from her maternity leave, the American has entered into the top 10 in doubles and top 60 in singles.