Taylor Townsend has been in Round 4 at the US Open before. She has defeated a Top 5 player in Flushing Meadows before, as well.
After the American took out teen sensation Mirra Andreeva in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night she wanted the world to know: “This time it’s different.”
As a former junior No.1 with prodigious talents, Townsend hasn’t taken the straight line to success on tour. Instead, she has carved her own path, learning and growing as she goes. Everything that has happened to the 29-year-old Chicago native over the course of her career has helped shape her into the player and person she is today.
“People have always said, ‘Oh, you're so talented, you have so many weapons, you have so many things you can do,’ but…” She told reporters in the wee hours of Saturday morning after her 7-5, 6-2 win over fifth-ranked Andreeva. “There was always a 'but.'
“I feel like the work I've been putting in and all the things I've been doing has eliminated that 'but.' I'm emerging as a new person. I feel like today I leveled up. I'm really just so proud of myself. I'm so proud of the way I showed up tonight, the way that I handled business, the way I kept my head on.”
In 2019, Townsend shocked then-world No. 4 Simona Halep in a third-set tiebreak and went on to reach Round 4, where she took eventual champion Bianca Andreescu to three sets. Looking back on that period in her career, Townsend says she hardly recognizes the person she was.
“This time it just feels completely different,” she said. “I wasn't searching for anything, I wasn't looking, trying to find answers; I had all the answers in here. I'm a totally different person than I was in 2019, and I think that that showed.”
Currently the world’s No.1-ranked doubles player, Townsend believes that what you put into a career is what you will—eventually, if you maximize your effort and never relent—get out of it. That’s why the setbacks never seem to phase her, because the American continues to cultivate a sense of self-belief that gives her a chance against anyone she plays, even if the rankings chasm is as wide as it was last night, with 134 spots between herself and Andreeva.
“If you look at the Taylor Townsend from five or six years ago and you look at the Taylor Townsend now, she’s a completely different player,” her coach John Williams says.
Townsend, who has been focusing on her mental strength and presence with Williams, puts a lot of trust in the man who calls himself “the clarity coach” on Instagram.
“I love John,” she said. “We have such a great relationship, on and off the court,” she said. “I trust him literally with any and everything in my life. Our relationship goes beyond tennis and I really value his information and his insight. The way that he sees the game and the way that he is able to analyze things.”
Townsend’s partnership with Williams and the birth of her son Adyn contributed to the American’s current aura. She’s a woman who embraces life’s challenges and navigates the tricky terrain of self-actualization in her professional and personal life.
“I've been working on myself, and I think anyone in the media could see that over the years and over time that I've become a new person,” she said in her press conference. “As I continue to talk to you guys, there are things I found out or realized about myself and I'm very vocal about that.
“I've just been doing the self-work, and I realize that a lot of the stuff had nothing to do with hitting a tennis ball. It was all between the ears.”
Townsend is not afraid to take hard looks in the mirror, to challenge herself to push through barriers. And she’ll look to break through a big one on Sunday in New York, when she faces two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova for a spot in what would be her first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal.
“Tennis is 85, 90 percent mental,” she said. “For me, I accepted that that was my downfall and that was my flaw, and I decided to dive into that. It's been uncomfortable, it hasn't been easy, but I'm doing the work. And I'm saying "doing," because it's an ongoing thing. It's not a thing where you do it and it's like, ‘Okay, cool. Check. It's an ongoing process.'"
