Court 17 plays host to diverging American dreams for Taylor Townsend, Christopher Eubanks at US Open

TENNIS CHANNEL LIVE: Taylor Townsend joined Tennis Channel as an analyst while she was on maternity leave.

NEW YORK—Court 17 at the US Open has always been an American-centric locale. It’s big enough to hold a few thousand home-country fans, but compact enough to make them feel as if they’re part of the action, and that their support can matter. The tournament’s schedulers like to send U.S. players here, and that was never more true than Wednesday. Each of the four singles matches originally slated to take place on 17 featured an American: Taylor Townsend, Chris Eubanks, Tommy Paul, and Jen Brady.

Earlier this week, a couple of players picked up a strong and familiar scent—marijuana—coming from nearby Corona Park. No scents were noticeable on Wednesday, but there was a strong buzz surrounding the first two Americans, Townsend and Eubanks.

Both are 27, both spent time at the academy run by Donald Young’s parents in Atlanta, both have winning personalities, and both have shown flashes of shotmaking brilliance—Townsend seemingly every couple of years, Eubanks for the first time, in a big way, in 2023.

Both have also experienced more than the usual tennis player’s share of ups and down, injuries and recoveries, layoffs and comebacks, and in Townsend’s case, the birth of her son, Adyn Aubry Johnson, in 2021. She and Eubanks spent part of 2022 in the commentary booth at Tennis Channel, but are happy to be back playing the sport, rather than calling it, in 2023.

“Taylor and I go back years, since we were, like 10, 11 years old” Eubanks said today. “We still train at times at Georgia Tech together.”

The crowd filled in as Townsend and her opponent, Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, started trading big serves and bigger forehands. The two powerful lefties have known each other since early junior days, and they immediately lit a spark in that small arena with their fiery, aggressive play. Townsend had the lion’s share of the support, of course, and she revved up her fans whenever she could. But New York being the world city that it is, Haddad Maia had her own, chanting, Brazilian-flag-waving rooters. Back and forth the two players went, and back and forth their fans went with them.

“Court 17 was lit, oh my gosh,” said Townsend, who compared the atmosphere to a soccer match. “I literally came off the court, I was like, ‘That was so fire.’…Someone was talking to me behind the court, telling me what to do, giving me like the whole game plan. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”

Whatever the fan told Townsend, it ended up working. She’s always had a wide variety of shots to choose from, but she made the right selections at the right times today in her 7-6 (1), 7-5 win. She upped her return level in the first-set tiebreaker, attacked the net late in the second set, and drew errors by giving Hadaad Maia no pace to work with on her forehand. As usual, Townsend absolutely hammered her overhead—she has one of the purest smashes on either tour.

“I’m very proud of the way that I fought and I executed my game plan,” Townsend said. “I had a great time. I had so much fun. This is probably the most that I’ve gotten the crowd involved.”

Townsend’s specialty has been doubles of late. She made the Roland Garros final with Leylah Fernandez, won Cincinnati with Alycia Parks, and is ranked No. 5 in the world. Now she wants to transfer that confidence to singles.

Court 17 was lit, oh my gosh, I literally came off the court, I was like, ‘That was so fire.’…Someone was talking to me behind the court, telling me what to do, giving me like the whole game plan. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Taylor Townsend

Right now my doubles ranking is higher than my singles, but not for long,” she said with a smile.

Townsend talked about the criticism she has faced over the years, of her weight and her appearance. And she talked about how she has worked hard to accept herself and not worry about what the world thinks. She felt like all of that came out on Wednesday..

“On court just seeing, like, the truth, like really the pure essence of me having a great time and enjoying and entertaining the crowd, enjoying the competition and the fight. I think that shows. That means a lot to me,” she said.

Alas, for U.S. fans, Townsend’s act proved to be a tough one to follow. Much of the audience, minus the Brazilian contingent, stuck around to see Eubanks play Benjamin Bonzi of France, but it was Bonzi who did most of the playing. He served better, returned better, made more balls than the American, and beat him in four sets. For the second straight match, Eubanks suffered from a case of nausea, and had to sprint off the court to get to the bathroom at one stage. When he got back, he fought valiantly, but it wasn’t his day.

Unlike at Wimbledon, there wouldn’t be a Cinderella run in New York, but he was philosophical about it.

“If I can feel like my preparation is consistent with what it has been for the previous really 12 months going into tournaments, I’m taking care of my body, all those things are right, I can go on court, win or lose I can walk off with my head high. I felt like I did that,” he said.

“I think Benjamin just played exceptionally well. He played the bigger points better than I did.”

Eubanks remains pleased with his season, of course. With his Top 30 ranking, he’ll be able to play the fall European circuit, something he hasn’t qualified for in the past.

“It’s something that I've seen for years,” Eubanks said, sounding like any other fan. “I actually called Basel and Vienna for Tennis Channel last year. Now I think I’ll have the opportunity to be able to play in one of those tournaments now.”

“I hope to make the most of it."