Taylor Townsend Apologizes After Being Accused of Racism over Chinese Food

After the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, Taylor Townsend will be playing the China Open for the second time in her career.

Taylor Townsend Apologizes After Being Accused of Racism over Chinese Food

Taylor Townsend apologized after mocking Chinese dishes (Image via X,Instagram/Taylor Townsend)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Now Taylor Townsend is dealing with racism accusations. Last month at the US Open, Townsend made headlines when she was told by Jelena Ostapenko that she had “no class” and “no education“.

Townsend is in Shenzhen, participating in the Billie Jean King Finals along with teammates Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro, McCartney Kessler, and Hailey Baptiste. They are playing the quarterfinals against Kazakhstan, and the team includes 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

When Townsend visited a restaurant buffet along with Baptiste, the food she saw completely shocked her. While giving her review on Instagram story, she panned her camera over different items placed on the table that included dried sea cucumber and bullfrog. Townsend stated that those were the “craziest” things she had ever seen in her life.

Later in another Instagram story, Townsend said all she ate were noodles and gave the experience a “solid two out of 10” rating. Her comments did not go down well with many fans at all.

Some said she should at least respect the cultural differences, saying the dishes she called horrible were actually considered delicacies in Chinese culture. Then there were some who called her a racist. On Wednesday, the 29-year-old once again took to Instagram, and this time, she apologized.

Hi everybody, I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences—which is one of the things that I love so much about what I do.

Townsend, the doubles No.1, featured in her fourth Billie Jean King Cup. In the previous four appearances, the USA lost in the round robin stage (2022 and 2023), while last year, they lost in the first round.

I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here at the tournament, and everyone has been so kind and so gracious. The things that I said were not representative of that at all, and I just truly wanted to apologize. There is no excuse, there are no words… I will be better. I’m really, really thankful to my country and to be able to represent them and be better. That’s all I can do. I just truly apologize.

Taylor Townsend added

Billie Jean King Finals kick-started on September 16. After the team event, Townsend will be playing the WTA 1000 China Open, where she made her debut last year in singles and lost in the second round. In doubles, her campaign ended in the second round.

Taylor Townsend to play the WTA Finals with Katerina Siniakova for the second time

Taylor Townsend will be on a quest for her first WTA Finals title in doubles in Riyadh, along with partner Katerina Siniakova. Last year, the pair reached the final but lost to Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.

Taylor Townsend
Taylor Townsend (Image via X/Christopher Levy)

Dabrowski and Routliffe were also the reason why Townsend and Siniakova failed to win this year’s US Open after reaching the final. Siniakova, however, has clinched one WTA Finals trophy along with Barbora Krejcikova, beating Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens to end the 2021 season.

Siniakova, currently the doubles World No.2, will be making her seventh consecutive appearance in the WTA Finals. She has 10 Grand Slam doubles titles to her name.

Apart from Townsend and Siniakova, two more teams have qualified for the WTA Finals: Dabrowski and Routliffe, and the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini. So far, Townsend and Siniakova have clinched two Grand Slam doubles titles (last year’s Wimbledon and this year’s Australian Open).

Also read: Holger Rune Aims to Bring ‘Energy and Intensity’ to the Laver Cup