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Doing It My Way
Closed Doors Don’t Stop Taylor Townsend
The tennis player who shined at this year’s U.S. Open talks about acceptance, caring for herself, and trusting the timing of her life
Doing It My Way is a candid ZORA Q&A series with newsmakers and changemakers in our community who are charting their own paths with conviction and defying convention.
Taylor Townsend believes everything happens in its time. After being publicly body-shamed as a 16-year-old tennis prodigy and denied funding from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) seven years ago, Townsend shook up the U.S. Open this year in a chance at vindication. She upset Wimbledon champion and #4 seed Simona Halep to pick up the biggest win of her career and made it the round of 16. Townsend lost to eventual Open winner Bianca Andreescu, but not before garnering Twitter shoutouts from Wanda Sykes and Samuel L. Jackson for her strong performance in the tournament.
With an electrifying serve-and-volley game, neon nails, and Drake lyrics as Instagram captions, Townsend reminded the tennis community that you shouldn’t sleep on her. The former #1 junior girls player in the world, poised to be tennis’ next breakout star, was spurned by the USTA seven years ago when the association cut her travel funding and told her to slim down. “Our concern is her long-term health, number one, and her long-term development as a player,” a USTA official said. That didn’t deter Townsend. Through fundraising, she paid her way to the 2012 U.S. Open junior event, made it to the quarterfinals, and won the girls’ doubles before turning pro later that year.
Over time, she struggled to take her game to the next level. That is until this year when Townsend gained momentum at the Open. Before the 23-year-old heads to Houston for the Oracle Challenger Series this weekend, Townsend talked with ZORA about the timing of her life and how she has found ways to reframe and regroup during difficult times.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
