Jelena Ostapenko issues formal apology for US Open outburst vs. Taylor Townsend

NEW YORK—Jelena Ostapenko returned to social media Saturday afternoon to issue a formal apology for her outburst after losing in straight sets to Taylor Townsend at the 2025 US Open.

Following the 7-5, 6-1 defeat on Wednesday, the former French Open champion chastised Townsend for not acknowledging a lucky netcord shot—and later took issue with the American’s preference to begin their pre-match warm-up at the net—accusing her victorious opponent of having “no class and no education” before getting booed off Court 11.

That same day, Ostapenko posted multiple statements on Instagram, refusing to apologize for the incident and denying her widely-condemned words had racist intent against her African-American rival.

Ostapenko, who had not been requested for post-match press by the media prior to her match with Townsend, did not conduct a press conference on Wednesday, nor did she attend one for which she was requested after her defeat in the first round of women’s doubles, citing “medical reasons.”

“Hi all - I wanted to apologize for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match,” Ostapenko wrote on her Instagram stories. “English is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.

“I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a tennis player. Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year.”

In her post-match press conference, Townsend would not say whether Ostapenko intentionally used microaggressive language, but said, “I didn't back down because you're not going to insult me, especially after I carried myself a certain type of way with nothing but respect. If I show respect to you, I expect respect as well. That's just the fact of the matter.”

Townsend moved into the fourth round of the US Open for the second time in her singles career on Friday night, shocking No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva in another straight-sets victory.