Katerina Siniakova represents the red, white, and blue, so no wonder she’s right at home at the 2024 US Open.
Every ace, volley putaway at the net or overhead smash winner in all of her doubles matches in New York has been met with thunderous applause from, most times, a capacity crowd, and that cacophony of noise backing her will follow her right into Louis Armstrong Stadium, where American flags hang above the stands, as she will attempt to move one step closer to earning a mind-boggling 10th career Grand Slam women’s doubles title.
It’s an all-American dream for the 28-year-old career Golden Slam winner hailing from—and still residing in—the Czech Republic.
Siniakova flies her home country's red, white and blue flag proudly, yet for the purposes of this fortnight in Flushing Meadows, the small town of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, and the bustling metropolises of Chicago and Atlanta—the two cities that shaped the life and career of Siniakova’s partner, 2022 US Open women’s doubles finalist Taylor Townsend—are distinctions without a difference. The pair are into the semifinals of the 2024 US Open women’s doubles competition, and despite its nascency, their partnership has already produced a landmark moment when, earlier this summer, the two won the Wimbledon crown—the first Grand Slam title in Townsend’s professional career.
Siniakova also made up half of the women’s doubles titlists at Roland Garros this spring, partnering with another American, Coco Gauff, on the red clay and delivering the 2023 US Open women’s singles champion her first-ever major doubles crown.
Siniakova might not choose to take the pathway toward American citizenship like Czech-born Hall-of-Famers Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl did before her, but Siniakova has clearly made her way into the hearts of American tennis fans, and particularly those in Flushing Meadows.
“Definitely an advantage. Really nice to have the crowd behind us,” Siniakova said to USOpen.org. “I mean, it's a really nice atmosphere every time here. It's perfect. So, it's really nice that I have those supporters on my side. So yeah, I'm enjoying that.”
That support was evident on Court 10 last Thursday when Siniakova and Townsend started their US Open journey and had to rally back from a set down to defeat the team of Lucia Bronzetti and Liudmila Samsonova. Siniakova did not put the fact of playing alongside an American at the US Open in mind before the match, but the perks—the enthusiastic, near-incessant cheering for every point they won for starters—that come with that arrangement became evident quickly.
“When we were playing the first match, we were playing [on] Court 10 … and it was full, totally full,” Siniakova said. “The atmosphere was amazing and I think we didn't really play so great from the beginning, but [the fans] were pushing us so much. So yeah, in that first round, I really knew that they will be behind us.”
Along with her Grand Slam success, Siniakova won an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021 with former longtime partner Barbora Krejcikova and in mixed doubles at the Paris Games earlier in the summer with Tomas Machac, accomplishments that take an already-sterling career and raise it to a level that’s Hall-of-Fame worthy. That track record combines well with any player she links up with, and Townsend, who initially teamed up with Siniakova in April of this year, knew their partnership would not take long to turn into a force.
“When you are at a certain level and you understand certain things, you're able to adjust and you're able to mold your game to the strengths and weaknesses of your partner and that's what makes a great player,” Townsend told USOpen.org about Siniakova. “The partners that she has—she's picked me and Coco—we are certain level players and she's a certain level player. So when we combine that together, it's really hard to beat.”
The two go back to when they were both juniors together, but Siniakova and Townsend didn’t have much of a relationship before April. Siniakova’s partner to begin 2024, Storm Hunter, suffered an Achilles injury in the leadup to the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers in April— and one month before the start of Roland Garros, where Townsend had in the prior year finished runner-up alongside Leylah Fernandez. Soon after Hunter’s injury, Siniakova sent Townsend a message through Instagram about the possibility of joining forces, and though Townsend had initially committed to playing the 2024 French Open with Beatriz Haddad Maia, she decided a Siniakova parternship was her best opportunity to finally break through the Grand Slam ceiling after being a runner-up for two years running.
“I just felt like it was a great opportunity for me to play with Kat because she's such an experienced and great player and has so many accolades,” Townsend said. “So I was just like, 'Yeah, it's a no-brainer for me.' I was really apologetic to Bea because that was the first time I had ever been in that situation. But I was just like, 'At this point, I have to do what's best for me. And I feel like this is a great move for me.'"
But before Siniakova and Townsend could begin their Grand Slam journey together, the injury bug bit again; Townsend got injured in Rabat during a lead-up tournament to Roland Garros, forcing her withdrawal from Paris. Knowing that Siniakova needed a partner in her absence, Townsend picked up the phone and knew someone else who was also in Siniakova’s position after another injury, suffered by Jessica Pegula, left another American scrambling for a French Open doubles partner.
“I was looking for a last-minute [partner] for the doubles and Coco also had this situation [also],” Siniakova said. “Taylor actually texted me that maybe I could try her and I was just lucky. I mean, it was really nice that [Gauff] decided to play because she wasn't supposed to play. She was supposed to play just singles, and she just told me that maybe it's a really great chance to play with you and win it. So I was like, ‘Okay, let's play.’"
Coco Gauff as a Plan B? Talk about the land of opportunity!
Siniakova and Gauff won 12 of their 13 sets contested on their way to the Roland Garros title, something Townsend knew that the duo would pull off.
“After their first two matches, I was just like, ‘Oh, they're going to win,’" Townsend said. “I saw the scores. I was like, ‘It's a wrap.’"
Then came Wimbledon, and Siniakova’s transition from one American to another was seamless. She and Townsend won five of their seven matches in straight sets, including the match when they defeated 2023 US Open women’s doubles champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe in the final under the lights of Centre Court.
“When we won the finals at Wimbledon, [Taylor] got really emotional and it was actually really nice,” Siniakova said. “I was so happy for her that we managed to [do] it. And I think from that time, maybe it was a little bit of a relief for her. I'm really happy that she's enjoying it. And I think after that title, she's enjoying it even more, she wants to show her tennis. So, I'm just happy that we can share this on the court, that we can both be there for each other during the matches and I hope we will do some good tennis.”
Over a few months, Siniakova and Townsend have forged a chemistry on and off the court that suggests a long-standing friendship. But before their partnership, and despite being contemporaries going back to juniors, the two only ever spoke to each other at the net while exchanging pleasantries after matches, including when Siniakova and Krejcikova defeated Townsend and Caty McNally in the 2022 US Open women’s doubles final.
“There was no reason for me to go out of my way to speak to her or whatever,” Townsend said. “I mean, it was all the times where we were just like, ‘Hey, good match. Good play,’ and whatever. ‘Hey, you kicked my butt in the finals, but it's fine.’ [I'm glad that she's on] my side this time.”
But this time around, everyone with a stake in American tennis is on Katerina’s side.
