How Taylor Townsend overcame discrimination based on weight by the USTA to win her 1st Grand Slam doubles title at Wimbledon 2024

Taylor Townsend won her maiden women's doubles Grand Slam title on Saturday (July 13), partnering Katerina Siniakova to lift the 2024 Wimbledon trophy. The Czech-American pair, seeded No. 4 at SW19, overcame second seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe 7-6(5), 7-6(1) in straight sets to win their first Major together.

Before Sunday, Townsend had reached two other doubles Slam finals, at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open, losing at both. While most players will have their national associations to thank for such success at the top level, Townsend's story is quite the opposite.

The American had an incredible start at the junior level as well, rising to No. 1 in the junior ITF rankings at one point. She won the 2012 Australian Open girls' singles as well as doubles, then added the Wimbledon girls' title the same year to her resume.

However, heading into the 2012 US Open, controversy stuck. Townsend was prevented from competing at the junior tournament by the USTA (United States Tennis Association), hinting that she was overweight and had to work on her fitness at a camp.

Speaking about the experience in a column she wrote for Players Tribune in 2021, the 28-year-old recalled her earlier experience with such discrimination. Townsend clarified that she had never been thin in her life, adding that it had never been something she had felt bothered about either.

"My body — it’s just a part of who I am. And if that makes you uncomfortable, then I don’t know what to say. This might not be the article for you," Taylor Townsend said.

"I’m not thin, and I’ve never been thin — that’s just the truth about it, straight up. Like, forreal, I used to be out there on the court with my lil rolls hanging out in my tight tank tops. Why?? Because why not?? I liked the way I looked. I liked the way I felt, and I wasn’t ashamed," she added.

On the USTA decision, made at the time by John McEnroe's brother Patrick (General Manager of Player Development), Townsend lamented that it was frustrating, especially as all other juniors were heading to the tournament.

Townsend was left all the more confused by the decision to stop her from competing as she was still winning Grand Slams at the time and would have been one of the favorites for the title.

"This wasn’t the first time my fitness had come up. It was something I’d been working on with my coaches….. and I’ll be the first to admit that conditioning wasn’t an area of strength for me that summer. But I was still getting results where it mattered most, you know what I mean??" Taylor Townsend said.

"It was frustrating!! Like, here I was, flying back to Florida to start my fitness “hiatus” — while all the other juniors I knew (girls I was ranked higher than) were on their way to New York to start getting ready for the Open," she added.

The USTA ultimately decided not to pay for Taylor Townsend's expenses should she want to play at Flushing Meadows. So the American decided to do it herself, and paid out of her pocket to enter the junior tournament. She went as far as the quarterfinals before losing to Anett Kontaveit.

"It hurt, it hurt really bad" - Taylor Townsend on USTA discriminating against her based on weight

Continuing in the Players Tribune column, Taylor Townsend admitted that seeing the USTA discriminating against her based on her weight, despite her personal doctor vouching for her, hurt her very badly.

"Why is my ranking saying I’m the best in the world….. and my doctor is saying I’m okay to play….. and meanwhile the USTA is saying I need to see a nutritionist….. and lose some weight???" Taylor Townsend said.

"It made no sense. It was confusing as hell. And it hurt — it hurt really bad," she added.

The American credited her mother for shielding her from such unsavory attacks, right from her childhood when other parents used to pass comments about her behind her back.

"My mom was the one who shielded me from all that. She was always like, “You’re a child — you should stay in a child’s place. Let me deal with the grown-up stuff.” So for the most part, me and Symone, we just went out and played. But we still knew what was going on."

"We’d overhear them talking about it, see the looks on their faces, stuff like that. And it was tough. Seeing how you’re making things hard on your family? That’s tough at any age," Taylor Townsend said.

Townsend believed that the disparaging comments about her weight was also racially motivated, as America was not ready to see a 'big Black girl' dominating the junior tour at the time.

"And the thing about those parents who would say sh*t about me — it was like they felt their kids were the ones getting robbed of an opportunity. Like they weren’t getting the “country club tennis experience” they had signed up for. Tennis was supposed to be “their” sport. And yet here was their kid, getting beat by a big Black girl," Townsend said.

In the aftermath of the USTA controversy, Taylor Townsend split from her coaches at the association and entrusted the help of Zina Garrison, a former Wimbledon finalist and Olympic doubles gold medalist. Garrison stayed in-charge of the American until 2015.

Townsend's career suffered a minor slump between 2018 and 2021, when a spate of injuries prevented her from playing and pushed her out of the top 100 in both singles and doubles rankings. However, since 2022 after coming from her maternity leave, the American has entered into the top 10 in doubles and top 60 in singles.

Edited by Shyam Kamal