Naomi Osaka strongly came to the defense of American tennis player Taylor Townsend on Thursday, who claimed that Jelena Ostapenko hurled “no class” and “no education” insults at her following their second-round match the previous day.
Osaka, whose father is Haitian-American and mother is Japanese, said following her second-round victory over Hailey Baptiste that such derogatory comments are “one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport.”
Ostapenko, who is from Latvia, has denied that she was making any racial comments when she used those terms during the heated post-match exchange over what she believed was a breach of tennis etiquette by Townsend.
“I saw that part obviously. It’s been on the TV, like, every 15 minutes. I mean, it’s really difficult to say,” Osaka said when asked about the incident following her 6-3, 6-1 victory over Baptiste at Louis Armstrong Stadium. “Granted, I know Taylor and I know how hard she’s worked and I know how smart she is, so that’s the furthest thing from uneducated or anything like that.
“But if you’re, like, genuinely asking me the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said, if I’m being honest. I think it’s ill timing and the worst person you could have ever said it to. And I don’t know if she knows the history of it in America. But I know she’s never gonna say that ever again in her life. But I mean, it was just terrible. That’s just really bad.”
On the court, Osaka — the champion here in 2018 and 2020 — has been terrific in her first two matches, advancing to the third round for the third time this year in Grand Slam events.
The 27-year-old Osaka will look to reach the fourth round for the first time in eight major appearances since returning to the WTA Tour after taking the 2023 season off on maternity leave and to take care of her mental wellness.
Asked if she believes she can play deep into this tournament, Osaka replied, “Honestly, I don’t really know. I don’t make it my business to know anymore. I kind of just leave it up in the air. For me, I realize that I’ve done everything that I could. I’ve trained really hard. I practiced really hard. If it happens, it happens.”
The 23rd-seeded Osaka, who had ousted Greet Minnen in straight sets in the opening round, will face either Kamilla Rakhimova or No. 15 Daria Kasatkina in the next round.
After wearing a sparkling red dress for her opening match, Osaka came out in a sequined purple outfit for her afternoon match on Armstrong, channeling Serena Williams’ look from 2019.
Osaka has now won all three-head-to-head meetings with the 23-year-old Baptiste, who reached the fourth round at the French Open and third round at Wimbledon this year.
The 47th-ranked Baptiste landed just 48 percent of her first serves and committed 25 unforced errors and nine double faults in the 70-minute match, leading to five converted break points for Osaka.
“I would say I made progress in my attitude, which is the one thing that I really wanted to work on,” Osaka said. “I think Tuesday I was getting really down on myself in certain moments, and I kind of was, like, this [moving her arm like a roller coaster].
“And then today, I just really tried to be positive even if she hit a crazy winner or even if she did something incredible, and I tried to be very stable, so … yeah, I am quite confident in myself now, so I think that also is working for me.”
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