INSPIRING!! How Taylor Townsend overcame discrimination based on weight by the USTA to win her 1st Grand Slam doubles title at Wimbledon 2024

Taylor Townsend won her maiden women’s doubles Grand Slam title on Saturday, partnering with Katerina Siniakova to lift the 2024 Wimbledon trophy. The Czech-American pair, seeded No. 4 at SW19, overcame second seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 7-6(5), 7-6(1) in straight sets to win their first Major together.

Before Sunday, Townsend had reached two other doubles Slam finals, at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open, losing at both. While most players will have their national associations to thank for such success at the top level, Townsend’s story is quite the opposite.

The American had an incredible start at the junior level as well, rising to No. 1 in the junior ITF rankings at one point. She won the 2012 Australian Open girls’ singles as well as doubles, then added the Wimbledon girls’ title the same year to her resume.

However, heading into the 2012 US Open, controversy stuck. Townsend was prevented from competing at the junior tournament by the USTA (United States Tennis Association), hinting that she was overweight and had to work on her fitness at a camp.

Speaking about the experience in a column she wrote for Players Tribune in 2021, the 28-year-old recalled her earlier experience with such discrimination. Townsend clarified that she had never been think in her life, adding that it had never been something she had felt bothered about either.

“My body — it’s just a part of who I am. And if that makes you uncomfortable, then I don’t know what to say. This might not be the article for you,” Taylor Townsend said.

“I’m not thin, and I’ve never been thin — that’s just the truth about it, straight up. Like, forreal, I used to be out there on the court with my lil rolls hanging out in my tight tank tops. Why?? Because why not?? I liked the way I looked. I liked the way I felt, and I wasn’t ashamed,” she added.

On the USTA decision, made at the time by John McEnroe’s brother Patrick (General Manager of Player Development), Townsend lamented that it was frustrating, especially as all other juniors were heading to the tournament.Townsend was left all the more confused by the decision to stop her from competing as she was still winning Grand Slams at the time and would have been one of the favorites for the title.

“This wasn’t the first time my fitness had come up. It was something I’d been working on with my coaches….. and I’ll be the first to admit that conditioning wasn’t an area of strength for me that summer. But I was still getting results where it mattered most, you know what I mean??” Taylor Townsend said.

“It was frustrating!! Like, here I was, flying back to Florida to start my fitness “hiatus” — while all the other juniors I knew (girls I was ranked higher than) were on their way to New York to start getting ready for the Open,” she added.

The USTA ultimately decided not to pay for Taylor Townsend’s expenses should she want to play at Flushing Meadows. So the American decided to do it herself, and paid out of her pocket to enter the junior tournament. She went as far as the quarterfinals before losing to Anett Kontaveit.