The tennis community simply cannot get past what happened yesterday between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko. Following the loss in the R2 of the 2025 US Open, Townsend and Ostapenko engaged in a heated scuffle on the court. What was it all about? Well, an upset Ostapenko provoked Townsend, claiming that she had “no education and no class.” Needless to say, this was an act that caught flak from most. Naomi Osaka, Ben Shelton, and many others have already opened up about this. But now, it was Coco Gauff’s turn. 

Following her emotional win over Donna Vekic in the second round of the US Open, a reporter at the post-match presser asked her to weigh in on the Townsend-Ostapenko debacle. Gauff wasted no time and emphasized how close she is to Taylor Townsend. And that made her oppose the Latvian’s reasons. Ostapenko claimed that players are supposed to warm up at the baseline and not near the net. It was apparently disrespectful to her and against the rules of tennis. But Gauff cleared the doubts, pointing out that Townsend has done this throughout her career. And it was definitely not against the rules. 

Coco Gauff defended her friend’s honor by saying, “I really hate to see that, you know, maybe this is some of the first people hearing who Taylor Townsend is. And I don’t want that to be the main focus of who she is. Because she’s a lot more than that. She’s a mom, she’s a great friend, she’s a talented tennis player. And a good person. At the end of this tournament, I hope people will do a deep dive into her and get to know her more than what was said in the previous match.”

According to her, Ostapenko said what she said in the heat of the moment. It was likely that the Latvian was experiencing a surge of emotions following the loss. Nevertheless, Gauff agreed that those things shouldn’t have been said, regardless of how Ostapenko felt. After all, Taylor Townsend is one of the nicest people that Gauff knows. She revealed, “Whenever I’ve had a tough moment on court, she’s texting me, checking in on how I am.” Gauff believes that Ostapenko has misperceived Townsend. 

On the other hand, Naomi Osaka pointed out that Jelena Ostapenko had a habit of saying some heated stuff. But was she actually defending the Latvian star? 

Naomi Osaka reveals her opinion on the drama between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko

Of course, Osaka wasn’t happy with the altercation between her fellow tennis athletes. And she was definitely not in support of what Ostapenko said to Townsend. During the post-match press conference, after beating Hailey Baptiste, Osaka said, “I think, obviously, it’s one of the worst things that you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport. And granted, I know Taylor and I know how hard she’s worked, and I know how smart she is, so she’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.” 

She continued, “I think it’s ill timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t think that she knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never gonna say that ever again in her life. But yeah, I mean, it’s just terrible. Like that’s just really bad.” 

As fans, all we want right now is for the dust of the altercation to settle down. But what do you think about the on-court drama involving Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko? 

And don’t forget to take a look at the EssentiallySports Live Blog for fresh beats from Flushing Meadows.