Prakash Amritraj: Jelena Ostapenko’s Taylor Townsend comments “came from an ugly place” at US Open

NEW YORK—The Tennis Channel Live panel condemned Jelena Ostapenko’s on-court comments to Taylor Townsend at the US Open while praising Townsend for her response in press at the 2025 US Open.

Ostapenko claimed Townsend owed her an apology for not acknowledging for a lucky netcord after the 7-5, 6-1 second-round scoreline, later accusing the American of having “no class and no education.”

“It came from an ugly place and there’s no space for that in the sport,” said TC Analyst Prakash Amritraj.

“Like in a lot of situations, you have to consider the source. When someone’s going personal like this, you have to consider where it’s coming from. Ostapenko hasn’t been great in a lot of these situations as you can imagine and a lot of people have pointed out. But Taylor didn’t sink to Ostapenko’s level, she rose above it. At the end of the day, it’s going to affect you more if you get dragged into the mud, and I think Taylor did what was right for her and set a great example for everyone else.”

Townsend spoke at length about the incident after the match, clarifying while there was no pre-existing beef between herself and the No. 25 seed, “I'm just not going to tolerate disrespect. You're not going to disrespect me in my face.”

“It was just factual, totally classy,” TC Analyst Paul Annacone said of Townsend’s comments. “It wasn’t emotional. She just kind of said, ‘Look, stuff happens in the heat of the moment. I didn’t back down.’

“I just thought it was so well done and it doesn’t surprise me at all. Taylor Townsend is a class act and an amazing competitor. I’m just so proud of her, that she’s playing great tennis and that she stated fact, and lives to play another day.”

Townsend will next face No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva for the chance to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the second time in her singles career.