Taylor Townsend of the USA in action during her Girls Singles’ second round match against Laura Pigossi of Brazil on day nine of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 4, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
Taylor Townsend of the USA in action during her Girls Singles’ second round match against Laura Pigossi of Brazil on day nine of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 4, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
Taylor Townsend of USA in action during her Girls’ Singles first round match against Maria Constanza De Las Me Vega of Argentina on day seven of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 2, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Taylor Townsend of the USA attends the Wimbledon Championships 2012 Winners Ball at the InterContinental Park Lane Hotel on July 8, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Taylor Townsend of the United States plays during Day Eleven of the 2012 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 6, 2012 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Taylor Townsend of the United States plays during Day Eleven of the 2012 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 6, 2012 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Taylor Townsend of the United States prepares to return a shot against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia during their junior girls’ singles quarterfinal match on Day Twelve of the 2012 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 7, 2012 in the Flushing neighborhood, of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USTA)
Taylor Townsend of the United States reacts against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia during their junior girls’ singles quarterfinal match on Day Twelve of the 2012 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 7, 2012 in the Flushing neighborhood, of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USTA)
From Clutch Magazine: Taylor Townsend has a body like Serena… and that’s a problem.
Townsend, the number one junior women’s player in the world, nearly missed a spot in last week’s U.S. Open because U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) told her they weren’t going to finance her appearance in anymore tournaments until she got into better shape.
Like many black, female athletes, Townsend is not stick-thin. At 5’6”, she weighs about 170 pounds. Despite being the top-ranked player on the junior’s circuit and winning the Australian Open earlier this year, the brass at the USTA aimed to pull the teen from the U.S. Open and any other tournaments until she loses weight.
But should she?
Townsend said she was devastated when her USTA coaches told her she couldn’t compete in the U.S. Open.
“It was definitely shocking,” the teen said. “I was actually very upset. I cried. I was actually devastated. I mean, I worked really hard, you know, it’s not by a miracle that I got to number one. I’m not saying that to be conceited or anything, but it’s not just a miracle or it didn’t just fall upon me just because my name’s Taylor.”
After her Australian Open win, the Chicago teen who now lives at the USTA center in Florida, ditched fast food and incorporated running and weight-lifting into her training routine. But the wasn’t enough for Patrick McEnroe, the general manager of the USTA’s player development program. McEnroe explained why the USTA refused to finance Townsend’s slot in the Open.
“Our concern is her long-term health, number one, and her long-term development as a player,” he explained the Wall Street Journal. “We have one goal in mind: For her to be playing in [Arthur Ashe Stadium] in the main draw and competing for major titles when it’s time. That’s how we make every decision, based on that.”
But as the Bleacher Report points out, concerns about Townsend’s health didn’t prevent the USTA from allowing her to play in both the singles and the doubles competition in the Australian Open earlier this year, in which Townsend had to pull a double-header and play twice in one day.
So what gives?
Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.
