Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs and tennis enthusiast Caitlin Thompson discussed Jelena Ostapenko’s on-court criticism of Taylor Townsend and issuing an apology for the doubles specialist later. Townsend defeated Ostapenko in the second round of the US Open women’s singles.
Taylor Townsend was in contention for the women’s singles title at the 2025 US Open, trouncing Antonia Ruzic in the opening round and facing Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the next. While the second-round match began smoothly, tensions escalated when Ostapenko criticized her American opponent, claiming she had ‘no education’ and ‘no class’ after Townsend failed to apologize for a net cord point.
The heated exchange and Ostapenko’s remarks garnered reactions from the tennis world, with many backing Taylor Townsend. Days later, the Latvian player issued an apology to her opponent, clarifying that her ‘no education’ comment implied tennis etiquette and nothing else.
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Regarding the incident, Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs and journalist Caitlin Thompson shared their views. Stubbs felt that the 'no education' comment was coded, while Thompson expressed shock over Ostapenko's lack of an apology. (via the Rennae Stubbs Tennis podcast)
"Now that the Ostapenko news has bulletins around the world, now that she's issued an apology, and a social media post with people of color in it, sort of, we call that CYA in the biz, cover your a**. She is attempting very much to do some CYA reputation repair. I have to say, in many of the years that I've spent watching Elena Ostapenko, I have never seen her apologize to anyone, anywhere, under any circumstance. So the fact that she wrote a long Instagram note message was pretty shocking." (9:11 onwards)
Stubbs weighed in her thoughts and added:
"Look, you know, I'm not going to sit here as a white woman and try to describe what it must feel like and pretend that I have any idea, but that word of saying 'you're uneducated' really feels coded."
Townsend beat Mirra Andreeva in the third round but fell to Barbora Krejcikova in the last 16.
Jelena Ostapenko issued a clarification on why she lost her temper at the US Open
While Townsend chose to be professional and mature about the entire incident, Jelena Ostapenko felt it was right to clarify why she lashed out on the court. Taking to her Instagram story, the former World No. 5 said that it was not pleasant to watch her opponent do 'whatever' and not follow tennis rules because she was playing on her home ground.
Just a small update about the match. Today after the match I told my opponent that she was very disrespectful as she had a net ball in a very deciding moment and didn't say sorry, but her answer was that she doesn't have to say sorry at all. There are some rules in tennis that most players follow and it was the first time ever that this happened to me on tour. If she plays in her homeland that doesn't mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants."
Jelena Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova played in the women's doubles but were ousted by Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani in the opening round.
