US OPEN

September 4, 2026

Taylor Townsend

Press Conference

T. TOWNSEND/D. Shnaider

6-2, 6-7, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Moving on. Three tough sets, two-and-a-half hours. Your thoughts.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I like how you just get right to it.

No, I feel really great. It was a tough match today, especially having been up a set and 5-3 serving for it. Diana really stepped up her game. She played some really great tennis. It was a back and forth. It was a battle, had chances.

But I just really tried to regroup and just tell myself, like -- I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong. I didn't feel like I was doing anything, like, you know, bad, but I felt like I just needed to step up and take it. That's what I was telling myself.

When I had the opportunity to do it when I was serving, I said to myself, I have one of the best serves in the world, and that's how I'm going to serve, and I'm going to go for it. That's what I did.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Quite a rush of emotion after the win today. You referenced in your on-court comments about people didn't know what you've been through. I'm wondering if you're referring to this year or going back to when you were 16 and No. 1 and trying to come to the juniors here. What were you thinking about?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Well, I mean, there have been so many people that have been following my journey for so many years. I mean, I have been pro since I was 15. I turned 30 this year, so 15 years.

There has been a lot that's happened and transpired over that time, but I spoke about both. I was speaking about, you know, that and everything that I have overcome in the public eye, but then also behind closed doors. I have been through a lot over this past year.

The people who are in my inner circle know. That's really what brought the tears, because, you know, I just really know all the things that I have had to fight through and overcome and that I've had to endure and work through.

So, you know, I said it on my on-court interview. I was feeling nervous, and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself coming in. And during the Fan Week, I was nervous because I just wanted to really perform and do well and, you know, have a good run here.

You know, obviously in the back of your mind, Oh, you made the fourth round last year, you've got to do it, and tennis is crazy where you have to do what you did the year before to get points.

It's a lot of, you know, added pressure that can be there. You know, I was feeling some of it, and I was adding onto it, which isn't always the best thing. So I really just was able to kind of dissect that with my coach.

Then we went out on the practice court and just tackled it. One day at a time, one thing at a time, one session at a time, until I felt by the time the first round came, I was, like, I'm ready, I'm good. Everything that I was feeling, any doubt that I had was gone.

There are some times where you have to talk things out, but then the situation was more so of just putting things into action and just showing myself on the practice court, and like, I'm good, I got this.

Q. Congratulations on kind of similar to what you were talking about, but you spoke about you felt the need to prove yourself, which is very relatable, but you also mentioned you have done all these things before, you've played on Ashe, you've played on Chatrier and everything. Can you explain where that specific need, I don't know if you were maybe just talking about the rankings, but to prove yourself came from?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Well, I think it's always been there, because I have always had to, like, one-up myself. Even, you know, as a junior where there was no one who was doing what I was doing, and I still had to prove myself that I'm good enough and, you know, whatever.

So it's always been that way. I felt like I have always had people who have doubted me and that there has always been this gigantic "but" around me for some reason. I always thrived when people have doubted me, and I have had to prove people wrong.

But then as I evolved, as I have evolved and I've gotten older and those things have changed or, you know, experiences have changed and I realize, like, I had to really say, What am I doing this wrong? Are you doing this to prove other people wrong, or are you doing it for yourself?

Now I'm in a space where everything I'm doing, I'm doing for me and I'm doing because it makes me happy, that I'm enjoying it, and I'm doing it for the betterment of myself and my child.

Like everything else, like anything else that people say, or whatever, it just doesn't matter. I have had to work through that from the time that I was 15 years old, like, in the public eye. So it hasn't been the easy journey.

You know, that's why I credit a lot of the people who have followed me for so many years, because they've been able to see and watch this kind of evolution and this growth of me as a kid into an adult and a mom and everything.

That's not really, you know, something you get to see often and be able to follow very often, but I'm pretty transparent about the things I go through and my struggles and, you know, my highs and lows, and I feel like people ride with me.

I pride myself on being authentic, but it's so liberating to be in a space now where the only thing -- I don't even have to prove anything to myself. I'm literally just going out there and being free and playing tennis and playing the way that I want to play.

Q. You have always had a strong personal style. It feels like you have taken it to a whole new level this week. I'm just curious how it feels to execute maybe the vision you have always had in your head, and how has that elevated self-expression helped your tennis this week?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, I think that it's been phenomenal, honestly. You know, from the time that I launched my own brand and decided that I was going to sponsor myself, I wanted to be, like, different. I have always wanted to be different.

I have always wanted to do things in a different way, and you know, I really believe in alignment and timing. You know, the times just weren't right when I wanted to do things, and the time has been right.

More so than the timing, also the people that I have around me, because I have a lot on my plate. So to build a brand and to try and execute those things behind closed doors and the little intricacies that go into that, it's a lot between sourcing and all of that stuff.

So being able to lean on my team and have people that I really trust to execute my vision where we're able to have those high-line conversations and say, Hey, at the US Open, I want this color, and I want movement, and I want fringes and drama and all this stuff and be able to trust that I can give that to my team, and they can execute on it.

Not having to be in those conversations and, you know, the meetings and all the things that go into it. So, you know, I really feel like it's been helping me, because I do, I look good, I feel good, I play good. I keep saying that, because I feel like that when I'm on the court and off the court, as well.

I love getting a fit off. I love it. Go to the grocery store, get a fit off. Walk the dogs, get a fit off. I really enjoy it, because also, we don't have a lot of opportunities to do that.

You know, between you play, and I just played, and then I have another match. I have to be here at 9:00 in the morning tomorrow. So you don't have a lot of opportunities to express yourself.

And so why not use those moments and, you know, if that's just me wearing some glasses and a grill, cool. You know, whatever. But I'm really enjoying it. It's fun for me.

And I think that also the bigger picture is also being able to show people that you don't have show up this way, you don't have to subscribe to whatever boxes that people try to put you in. You can be yourself.

If you like grills, if you like wearing your hair in cornrows, if you like wearing a durag, if you like these things, then do it, because it is, like you said, a form of self-expression.

Q. How would you describe how you've come to realize the importance of work ethic and where your work ethic came from?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I've always had a really strong work ethic. I think I was born with it. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I wasn't born with or had, you know, opportunities that other people had. I'm from the south side of Chicago, and then we moved to Georgia, and I live on the south side in Atlanta.

You know, I wasn't afforded, you know, just opportunities on a silver platter. I really had to work and prove myself and prove that I'm worthy of these opportunities.

So, you know, doing that and being in those positions from such a young age, I just think that it's in me, you know.

So this sport, it really kind of highlights work ethic and it highlights what type of person you are, because it's me versus you. Like, am I going to fold, or are you going to fold? Like, I'm going to try and mess you up; you're going to try and mess me up. Who's going to come out on top?

So I think today this match really was able to highlight that, you know, those high and those lows, because I had an opportunity. I was right there, a couple of points away from finishing out the match. I wasn't able to do it. I had to regroup, come back, and then I was able to get the job done in the third set.

But, yeah, I just feel like I was born with it. It's just in me, and you know, I take a lot of pride in the way I show up, the way that I, you know, work every day, the way that my team works every day.

And so, like, as the CEO of my team, you know, I set the precedent for that, and I am a firm believer of lead by example. So they see me grinding, they see all the things that I'm doing behind closed doors, they see all the work that I'm doing, which makes them work harder.

So we're all kind of circulating hard work and keeping accountability, and I think that that's really important, as well, because in an individual sport, sometimes you need people to uplift you and get you up sometimes when you're down.

So I just feel super fortunate and blessed to be able to have that as well, because I know that, you know, even when there are times where I'm feeling weak or I'm feeling, like, not as strong, I have people who are strong that are able to hold me up.

Q. You spoke a bunch of times about the expectations thrust upon you at such a young age, which is obviously crazy in retrospect. Now you obviously speak with such joy and confidence about your career and everything you have been through. When do you think that started to change and what allowed that to change?

TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I spoke about this in my interview that did on The Pivot, but I think that a really big turning point for me was last year when I was concussed. I got a concussion during Miami Open, and I was out for two months.

That was a big wake-up call for me, because it was really scary in the sense of I feel okay, but then as soon as I start doing something, I feel terrible.

You know, it's a physical injury, but it's not a physical injury. Like, I didn't roll an ankle or hurt my knee or have to get surgery. It was my brain. So there was, like, no way for me to know how long that it was going to take for me to come back to the sport, how long that it was going to take for me to be okay.

So, like, I did a lot of self-work during that time in between my ears, like, where I'm kind of just sitting. You know, I unpacked a lot of things, and, you know, I realized that more than anything, being able to come out here and be here in front of you guys and speak to you guys, this is -- I have to have gratitude, because it was really scary for me.

So I operate with a lot of grace and a lot of gratitude and being happy about being able to just be here and do what I'm doing and love what I'm doing. So it started there.

I did a lot of self-work, and then through trials, tribulations, and you know, things that have tested me, I was able to come through that stuff, and you know, my experiences have taught me a lot. I'm the kind of person where when I go through something, I kind of analyze it, and I'm, like, okay, why is this happening and what did I learn from it? I'm always asking, what did I learn?

So I'm always pulling things. I've said that before where it's just like I always have the mindset of if I leave -- I leave my son for weeks at a time, you know, and that's very hard for me just in itself. So when I leave and I come back, I want to come back with something, and it's not always a trophy, but it's an experience, it's wisdom, it's information. That is very valuable in itself.

So, you know, I don't take any of the experiences for granted, and I'm really just enjoying the ride. I'm enjoying every time that I'm stepping on the court. I'm enjoying being able to talk to you guys and being able to inspire the next generation.

I mean, I wrote down in my journal when I was 8 years old that I wanted to change the game of tennis, and I didn't know how. I didn't know what that meant.

But then when I see these kids in front and cheering for me and excited to watch me play and having even the crowd the way that it was today and people yelling my name, like, I'm doing it.

So everything that I said I wanted to be and do as a child, I'm doing it, and I'm living my dream, and I'm just happy that I'm able to do that. I'm excited that I'm able to create a legacy for myself and my son, as well, and something that he could be really proud of when he Googles my name, because I'm sure the Internet is going to be crazier even when he's older. So when he's able to look me up, you know, I hope that it's something he can be proud of.