Back in 2012, there was a controversy surrounding the American tennis star, Taylor Townsend. She was then the number one under-16 ranked player in the US and the world. With enormous potential and plenty of hunger to achieve her tennis goals, Townsend was then hailed as one of the promising stars in the tennis world. But, when it came to providing her all kinds of support in her professional growth, the USTA refused to provide financial support for competition travel to Townsend until she lost weight.
While sharing his thoughts on this decision, Patrick McEnroe had then said, “Our concern is her long-term health, number one, and her long-term development as a player. We have one goal in mind: For her to be playing in [Arthur Ashe Stadium] in the main draw and competing for major titles when it’s time. That’s how we make every decision, based on that.” Although Taylor Townsend received support from several other tennis legends like Chris Evert, Lindsay Davenport, and a few others. But that was perhaps one of the lowest points in her career!
So, she has been a victim of body shaming right from a very young age. Recently, after her exit from the doubles event at Wimbledon, Townsend, who was last year’s champion (along with Katerina Siniakova), received severe criticism from the fans. She shared a series of IG stories, where fans were seen body shaming her with some filthy comments. One of them even wrote, “With your obesity is impossible to win on the net.” While others asked if she had ever thought of losing weight. Replying to all these, she wrote, “Ngl, some of this is funny because who thinks to say this stuff.” She was quite annoyed with those comments, but guess what? That’s a past thing, and it’s more about celebrating her victories now.
Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai recently booked a spot in the final of the doubles event at the Citi Open. This comes shortly after Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina’s mid-match withdrawal from the nail-biting clash. But interestingly for Townsend, she has not only secured the spot in the final, but she will also become the new WTA doubles world number one on Monday. This will indeed make her the first mom ever to achieve this feat. Overcoming all odds and reaching further heights seems to be the sole motto for the 29-year-old at the moment!
DC doubles final AND the PIF WTA Doubles Rankings world No.1 title unlocked
Congratulations @TaylorTownsend #PIFWTARankings | #MubadalaCitiDCOpen pic.twitter.com/cz37sI2i7l
— wta (@WTA) July 26, 2025
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