US OPEN

September 11, 2026

Katerina Siniakova

Taylor Townsend

Press Conference

SINIAKOVA-TOWNSEND/Krueger-Montgomery

5-7, 6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Quite an accomplishment. Your thoughts?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Go ahead, Kat.

KATERINA SINIAKOVA: Thank you. Yeah, very proud I think of our team, how we managed to do it. It's really tough to find any words. I'm just really happy that we managed to win the title, and I think the match was very tight, very tough for us. But, yeah, we found a way to win it. We found a solution.

So I'm just really happy that we have this one, and we can celebrate it together.

THE MODERATOR: That will speak for the team. Questions.

Q. Congratulations, ladies. Can you talk about how you originally got together and what you've learned from each other on the way to this career slam?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: We got together through a DM. I always say it. Guys, don't be scared to slide in the DMs.

But, yeah, I mean, it was unfortunate. Storm had gotten injured, so Kat was looking for a partner. I was already set with someone, but I was, like, I can't pass up on this. She's the best in the world.

Then even our first year was crazy, because I got injured, so we weren't even able to play as much as we thought we were going to play. We ended up winning Wimbledon that year and then continued since.

I mean, what I've learned, she's the best for a reason. I've learned more about her as a person. I've always had the best success with people who I am friends with and who I enjoy both on the court and off the court.

I think today, more than a lot of the matches that I've played in a while, has been one of those days, because I was really nervous. I told Kat in the first set -- we were down 4-1 or 5-2 or something like that -- I was, just, like, I'm so nervous, and I'm just tight, and I'm not moving, and I'm not swinging. She just helped me up.

She talked me through it and helped me to relax and helped me to feel like it's okay. She kept telling me, It's okay, it's normal, it's fine, it's a final, it's okay, you'll find it.

I think that's what I've learned is just being able to have someone on my side that is able to help me through these situations and through these moments, and it helps to have someone that's been here so many times and who has been able to get over the hump -- what is it, 12 -- 12 times.

That's the most important, and being able to feel comfortable enough to speak up and say, This is what I'm feeling, I'm sorry I'm playing like crap, I'm sorry, this is what I'm feeling, and being able to work together as a team to figure that out.

So that has taken time. It's taken experiences for us to be able to be comfortable with each other, to be able to speak that way, because you don't want to feel that way. You want to be able to play your best and hold each other up and present strongly in a Grand Slam final after fighting so hard to get there.

She really helped me through these moments. Yeah, I think it's an invaluable thing to have, because that's where the experience comes in in someone who has been so accomplished and so decorated in the sport. That's what makes the difference, at least for me.

Q. Probably should have brought four Honey Deuces for the career slam. One for the four. Next time.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Next time. Check on the idea the "next time."

Q. Taylor, every slam win is special, but for this to be your first US Open, to complete the calendar year slam at your home slam with all that the US Open has meant to you and has been significant to you over the course of your career, just how does this experience feel different perhaps than the other three?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, it's very different. The US Open is something that I've been coming to as a kid. Like, I did the Hit the Targets thing for Arthur Ashe Day when I was young. So I've came to this tournament, I remember taking the 7 subway and walking through the park, and I'm, like, Oh, my God, I want to play here one day.

It's very special for me, also because of all the things that I've gone through over the course of my career. There was a lot of significant stuff that happened that revolved around the US Open.

I remember as a junior being World No. 1 where I didn't have any support, I didn't have any funding, and I had to do a fundraiser on my own to try and find a way to get here. I wasn't in 100% health, and I said, I'm going to come, and I'm going to do what I can.

I ended up, you know, winning the doubles that year, which was so special, in 2012. So then to be able to come here and win as an adult, you know, and be able to play on Arthur Ashe and to hold this trophy, it's something that's so special to me, because I don't forget the things that I've gone through. You know, I'm very intentional with the things and the words that I say, which is why I said, like, if flipping a script had a face, like, you'd see me (smiling).

I've been through so much, and it just means the world to me. I wanted this really badly, and I knew that I wanted it. I felt it in my body and my spirit, because I was so nervous. I haven't been nervous the whole tournament, and then I went out, and I was just, like, I can't play.

I knew that I wanted it, but I knew that I had to relax and allow things to flow and flourish. When I was able to do that, and credit to Kat, she played amazing and helped me through that moment, then we were flowing, and the scoreline showed that.

This really means everything to me. Not only just to be able to win the US Open, but to be able to complete a career slam. And I think I'm the first mother to be able to complete a career slam, which I think is amazing.

I've talked about this before where I said that I wanted to create a legacy for myself, and I've been saying that since I was -- that was something I journaled at 8 years old. I didn't know what that looked like, and I didn't know what that meant, and I definitely didn't think that was going to be me being a mom, but I'm creating history and creating a different path and showing people that it's possible. I'm just so honored to be able to do that.

Q. Well done, Taylor. Sorry, Katerina. I'm going to ask her a question about Black American players.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: You want her to answer it? That's fine (laughing).

Q. You referenced this on the court. Obviously it's a big day for Black American tennis players. I'm just sort of curious, what made it possible when you were young, when you were a kid, to look at this sport and say, Yeah, there's a place for me in it, when there were not that many people who looked like you in this sport? What made you believe and what do you think makes other people in the community believe?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I would say that I was fortunate enough to be around Donald Young, and he was a really successful junior and had great success in his career. His parents were my first coaches.

My first memory was when he won Junior Wimbledon, and he came back and brought the trophy. Then he won -- well, he won Junior Australian, and he brought the trophy back with the little stuffed kangaroo. I was, like, How cool, I want to do that.

So, like, I was fortunate enough to have someone immediately close to me, and he came back and would practice with us. So I looked at him as someone that I wanted to, like, do what he was doing.

But then when I looked at the women's game and I saw the Williams sisters, and I saw, like -- I remember one of my favorite players was Angie Haynes. I felt like everything that she was was kind of like me. Like, she wore a bandana, she was lefty, had a whip on the ball, like played with sauce. I was, like, Oh, she's kind of dope.

I think that being able to see people like sprinkled in there, I think that I always speak about representation, like, you only need one. You need somebody to be able to see that it's possible, that you can. I've said this where if you don't see it, then it's harder to believe it, but also, you have to be a certain type of person to want to take on that feat and say, Well, I'm going to carve this path for myself or for someone else or for the others who come after me.

So for me, I'm so proud to be able to click on the TV and watch Frances and Ben, and one of them is going to be able to be in a Grand Slam final, and that's a beautiful thing. You know, Robin, myself, you know, it's been Coco, it's been a phenomenal US Open for people of color, and just being able to show people, like, it's possible, you know?

But we're not the first; we're definitely not going to be the last. Even being here and being able to watch even the juniors, and I'm, like, Wow, there are so many more people than even when I was coming up.

So it's just such a beautiful thing to see, because the more that I can be out here and present authentically myself and inspire people to pick up a racquet and try something that they never tried or feel like they can or that it's possible or give the inspiration that they want to do it and say, Hey, like, I want to try this, then that's what it's about.

It's about paying it forward and inspiring the next generation, because our time is finite. It's very short when you think about it in terms of the longevity of life, right? The tennis career is very short.

So I want to have the biggest impact that I can, and if that's being able to just be out here and be myself and show people that there's an alternate path or you don't have to conform or you don't have to look like everyone else, act like everyone else, talk like everyone else, and you can be you and still successful, then it's a win for me.

I also take a lot of pride in that being a mom and having a son who looks at me, and I constantly try and pour into him to know that you're enough, you're beautiful, you're amazing, you're strong, you're a light, and just be you. Being you is enough.

So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I hope that whatever that I'm doing is having that ripple effect. I see it. I feel it, and I'm trying to lean into it more, because I get so much love and so much support.

I take a lot of pride in it, and I'm going to continue to do what I can and show up as myself every single day.

Q. Your origin story was a DM, but I'm also just curious, you know, you had success pretty quickly at Wimbledon. When did you feel like there was really a dynamic chemistry between you, at what point? How quickly did you feel that?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, when did you feel it? When did you feel a spark, Kat?

KATERINA SINIAKOVA: I tell you a secret. I asked her because I already knew it.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: You knew it?

KATERINA SINIAKOVA: Yeah.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Hey, I'll drink to that.

KATERINA SINIAKOVA: Of course, when I was finding a partner, I needed someone who was playing deuce, right, and I was playing, not few, a lot of times against Taylor, and I knew she can play, like, both sides.

But definitely I felt that she knows what's doubles. She knew what's, like, to be at the net, and she wasn't afraid. So when I was trying to text her, I knew that if I'm going to, you know, take her and we going to play together, definitely she can be really good doubles player.

It was really good that we could get to know each other. Yeah, definitely Wimbledon show it. So for me I guess was Wimbledon, because we did play one tournament in Rome. Then, yeah, we didn't play Paris, but Wimbledon, that was it.

I mean, I knew it's there. We just need to practice more and get to know each other more and kind of get, you know, the team working. For me, it was beginning.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: You want me to answer?

I mean, when she texted me, I already knew because she was a problem for me on the other side, and I was pissed. I'm, like, if I could have her on my side, great, amazing.

But, yeah, thanks for the secret. That made me feel good.