MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This year's U.S. Open is a redemption of sorts for one American tennis player - Taylor Townsend. She had early success as a teenager. She is now the top-ranked women's doubles player, but she's faced a tough road and she's had to overcome an additional hurdle in the past decade - criticism about her body size. Steve Futterman reports.
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STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: At the Wimbledon Championships last year...
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #1: A very first for Taylor Townsend.
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FUTTERMAN: Taylor Townsend won her first Grand Slam event, capturing the doubles title with her partner from the Czech Republic, Katerina Siniakova.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #2: This is a moment that she will never forget and wants to...
FUTTERMAN: This year in January, they won another Grand Slam doubles title in Australia, heard here on the Nine Network.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #3: The No. 1 seeds have claimed the Australian Open - Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. Too good in the end.
FUTTERMAN: And then last month, a historic achievement - Townsend became the No. 1 women's doubles player in the world.
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TAYLOR TOWNSEND: You know, it's really special for me to be able to have my friends and family - everyone - in this corner. This wouldn't be possible without you guys. So thank you.
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FUTTERMAN: For Townsend, it's been a long and sometimes difficult road. At the age of 16 in 2012, she was the top-ranked female juniors player. With an aggressive all-court playing style, everything was looking good. That's when things became complicated. It all had to do with what Taylor Townsend looked like - more specifically, her body type. She was a Black teenager who some thought should lose weight and be more fit. Karen Crouse is a former reporter for The New York Times who followed Townsend in those early years.
KAREN CROUSE: This felt really like the powers that be in the USTA were telling Taylor no, like, it's not just about your results. It's about what you look like when you're producing these results.
FUTTERMAN: The USTA, the U.S. Tennis Association, took the unusual step of withholding money to pay for Townsend's trip to New York to compete in the 2012 U.S. Open. She was told specifically she needed to lose weight. She went anyway and reached the quarterfinals of the junior singles competition and won the doubles. Still, it took an emotional toll. In 2021, Townsend candidly wrote about it publicly in The Players' Tribune. She said, I'm not thin, and I've never been thin. Her current coach is John Williams.
JOHN WILLIAMS: For Taylor, it was hugely cathartic because she needed to be heard. She needed her story told, and that article was kind of a gateway to that.
FUTTERMAN: Something else happened in 2021 - Taylor Townsend gave birth to a baby boy. She is the first mother to be ranked No. 1 in doubles. In her early years on the pro circuit, Townsend was a solid player, especially in doubles, showing flashes of brilliance but winning few titles. Since opening up about her struggles and becoming a mom, Townsend is having her greatest success.
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TOWNSEND: I've always been this person, but I think for some years, I was lost, you know, and lost in a sea of a lot of stuff. But, you know, it's nice to be able to come up to the surface and float and eventually swim.
FUTTERMAN: Next week, Taylor Townsend will compete in both singles and doubles at the U.S. Open - another important milestone as she excels on and off the court.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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