Taylor Townsend lately spoke about her experiences of coping with discrimination associated to her weight, each in her private life and in her tennis profession. She beforehand revealed that due to her weight, she misplaced funding from america Tennis Affiliation (USTA) and was denied a wild card entry to the US Open in 2012.
Townsend turned professional in 2012 and has since been ranked World No. 1 in doubles on the WTA rankings. She received the doubles Grand Slam title on the 2024 Wimbledon Championships and the 2025 Australian Open, in partnership with Kateřina Siniaková. She additionally completed because the runner-up in doubles on the 2022 and 2025 US Open. In blended doubles, the American secured runner-up finishes on the 2024 US Open and the 2025 French Open.
What Did Taylor Townsend Say About Dealing With Discrimination Due to Her Weight?
In a bit she wrote for The Gamers’ Tribune in 2021, Townsend shared the challenges she confronted as a Black athlete coping with scrutiny over her weight and the obstacles introduced by the USTA. Not too long ago, whereas talking on “The Pivot” podcast, she elaborated on the difficulties she encountered on account of her weight.
Townsend defined that the struggles and stigma she confronted prolonged past tennis; the game solely acted as an “avenue” in highlighting the problems. She talked about that she all the time felt the necessity to carry out higher than others to show her price, ready for validation from others to acknowledge her achievements.
“It goes a lot deeper than tennis. Tennis was simply the avenue and the stage during which it uncovered what was inside, nevertheless it went approach earlier than that. I all the time felt like I needed to show, all the time had this chip on my shoulder, the place till somebody or one thing, whether or not it was a end result and consequence validation from another person, till that occurred, I didn’t imagine or didn’t see,” Townsend mentioned.
The 29-year-old talked about that it was “very arduous” to listen to individuals counsel that her skilled development relied on reducing weight or conforming to societal expectations.
“When I’ve individuals telling me that my funding and my profession and the development of my professional profession is incumbent upon reducing weight or becoming right into a stigma and having to cope with that on a worldwide stage was very, very arduous. On the time, I used to be residing in Florida on my own, so I’m like throwing, making an attempt to do what I can, whereas nonetheless enjoying and getting via it,” she continued.
After the beginning of her son, Adyn Aubrey, on Mar. 14, 2021, Townsend revealed that she made a aware choice to let go of the “generational trauma” she had skilled, eager to spare her son from related points.
“Once I came upon that I used to be pregnant with my son, one of many issues I noticed was how very similar to generational trauma that existed inside me. So I used to be like, it’s COVID, f*ck it. I’m unpacking as a result of I don’t need to pour anything on this younger black boy, this new soul. He’s already going to need to cope with a lot; I don’t need to add to it with my sh*t that I’m not coping with unconsciously,” Townsend mentioned.
The doubles World No. 1 acknowledged that letting go of this trauma allowed her to acknowledge that the essential voices in her head weren’t her personal however these of her mom, grandmother, and others who had judged her based mostly on her weight.
“I noticed that a number of the voices and a number of the issues and a number of the emotions that I felt and what I might see after I was wanting within the mirror, it wasn’t my voice. It was my mother’s voice, it was my grandma’s voice, “Your abdomen’s too large to put on that swimsuit. You’ll be able to’t put on two-piece swimsuits,”” she continued.
Townsend said that all through her tennis profession, she carried the burden of discrimination, and when others implied that she would miss alternatives on account of her weight, her emotions of trauma “solidified.”
“It’s even been an evolution of discovering my trend and being snug in garments as a result of I used garments to cover. That’s what my mother did. I’m carrying this baggage that’s already there, and now I’ve these individuals telling me I’m fats, and I don’t match the stigma, and I can’t do that, and I received’t get this, and alternatives are being taken away from me; they simply locked it in, solidified it,” Townsend added.
On the tennis facet of issues, Townsend most lately competed on the 2025 US Open. Within the singles occasion, she reached the fourth spherical earlier than shedding to Barbora Krejčíková. In blended doubles, she partnered with Ben Shelton, however they had been eradicated by Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison within the quarterfinals.
Within the girls’s doubles occasion on the New York Main, Townsend teamed up with Siniaková, ending as runner-up to the pair of Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.
