They were packed in like sardines on a hot, sunny day in New York, wedged into Court 17 to cheer for two crowd-pleasing favorites. And when Taylor Townsend finished off a colossal upset against 19th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia on Day 3, they went bonkers.
So did Townsend…
The woman who shocked the US Open in 2019 by taking out two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep en route to the fourth round is no stranger to epic victories, but something about Wednesday’s 7-6(1), 7-5 triumph over the Brazilian just hit different.
“The energy, I was just feeding off of it and it was so much fun,” Townsend told USOpen.org on Wednesday, with a New York Yankees cap pulled down low over her head and a smile beaming on her face.
Clearly jazzed to have her second Top-20 win of 2023 under her belt, Townsend couldn’t contain herself. She pumped both fists and raised one finger to her face in a jubilant celebration.
“My sister asked me: What was that celebration?” Townsend said with a laugh, adding: “It just came to me, it just comes and I just do it.”
The 27-year-old American, who will face 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova in third-round action on Day 5 at the US Open, then made a beeline to share a special moment with her coach and mentor John Williams.
Anyone watching could see what it meant.
Williams, who originally started as Townsend’s strength and conditioning coach in 2015, has taken on a bigger role in her mental and emotional development of late. When Townsend took it upon herself to embark on a period of soul-searching during the pandemic, her path eventually led to him.
“It really started when the pandemic hit,” Townsend said. “I was like ‘If I can’t play tournaments, I’m going to work on my brain’ – this is something I did personally, because I wasn’t working with John at the time. That was the path of discovery that I went on and that was how the process started.”
Looking for a special connection, Townsend decided that she would defy convention and go with her gut when it came to choosing a coach for her comeback. Not long after Townsend gave birth to baby boy Adyn Aubrey in March of 2021, she recognized that Williams could be that person.
“Everyone kept asking me: ‘Who’s gonna coach you when you come back?’” Townsend said. “I was like: ‘I don’t know, but it will happen, it will come.’ We were having a conversation after one of our training sessions, and I just said ‘Hey will you coach me?’”
Townsend hasn’t looked back since.
“John has been a huge catalyst in all different areas, and it’s a relationship that I value a thousandfold,” the 132nd-ranked Townsend says. “Even if I quit tomorrow, the work that we do would be different, but the same—it’s always about how are you getting better, how are you progressing, not just as a tennis player, but as a person because it’s you first and all the other stuff comes after.”
Though she hasn’t yet soared in the singles rankings, Townsend is currently the world’s fifth-ranked doubles player, and she’s very confident that her singles results will soon follow.
She joked on Wednesday in her post-match press conference that motherhood makes playing on the tour even harder, but fellow American Christopher Eubanks believes that Townsend has benefited from the experience.
“She's so, so devoted to both parts of her life right now. I think that's really, really cool,” Eubanks said. “I think it could be a good reason as to why she's having the success that she's having. There's so much structure there. I think she really has a new perspective. I think she's really enjoying it right now.”
Rather than get hung up on short-term goals, Townsend is patient with herself, and her process. A year and a half into her comeback, she’s giving herself time to figure things out.
“I know I’m on the right track,” says the former world No. 61. “Whenever it happens, it will happen. Sometimes that can be easier said than done. Sometimes you say the words, but do you really believe them?”
With Williams in her corner, Townsend has taken a leap of faith and her confidence continues to grow as the big wins come in.
“It was a leap,” she agrees. “We both bet on each other, and it’s been working out and I couldn’t be happier honestly, because I’ve been through a lot of things with coaches and people, so it’s really nice to know that I’m out here with somebody that really has my back and cares about me as a person first and understands that all the other stuff will come later.”
