Jelena Ostapenko has apologised for her incendiary comments towards Taylor Townsend at the US Open.
The Latvian reacted furiously after losing to Townsend in the second round at Flushing Meadows, jabbing her finger repeatedly in the American’s face and accusing her of having “no education” and “no class”.
The source of Ostapenko’s ire was Townsend’s failure to apologise for a net cord but her language led to claims of racism, with Naomi Osaka saying the education comment was “one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport”.
Ostapenko, 28, declined to speak to the media but denied being racist on social media while defending her actions.
In a further statement on Instagram addressing her behaviour, she wrote: “I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match.
“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 tennis player. Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year.”
Townsend has found herself as arguably the face of the first week and she used the furore as inspiration to propel her to a shock third-round victory over fifth seed Mirra Andreeva.
“I’m really just proud that I kept the main thing the main thing,” said the 29-year-old.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me over these last 48 hours. It’s bigger than me. It’s about the message, it’s about the representation, it’s about being bold and being able to show up as yourself, and I did that tonight.”
Townsend revealed after a doubles win on Saturday that she had not heard personally from Ostapenko but she welcomed the public apology.
“That’s nice that she did that, that she apologised,” said Townsend. “That’s fine. That’s cool. At the end of the day, I think that it’s a learning lesson for her.
“Like I said when everything first happened, you cannot push your expectations on other people. That’s ultimately what happened. She expected for me to react a certain type of way, and I didn’t, and it infuriated her.
“Which led her to say things that are hurtful, that are belligerent, that are offensive, not only to me, but to the sport and to a whole culture of people that I try to do my best to represent the best that I can.
“I really hope from this she can take that, hey, you can’t control people and it’s better just to focus on yourself.”
