From body shaming to building her own clothing line, Taylor Townsend is writing her own story at the US Open

Taylor Townsend, of the United States (AP Photo)

Taylor Townsend knows what it is like to be pushed to the fringes even when her tennis has taken her to the top.As a 16-year-old, Townsend, then the world’s No. 1 junior, found herself embroiled in a conflict with the United States Tennis Association. A decade later, she spoke openly about the systemic body shaming she had endured. “I was fat, and I was Black,” she wrote in The Players’ Tribune, detailing the public policing of her body.On Wednesday, on another rain-interrupted day at Flushing Meadows, the 30-year-old American let her tennis do the talking. The left-hander stepped out in a custom dress from her own label, its navy-black sequin base offset by a sculpted bodice edged in bright orange piping and a flared skirt designed to move with her. Then she took apart Australia’s Taylah Preston 6-1, 6-1, winning all 23 points behind her first serve to move into the third round of the US Open.The American, ranked No. 96 in singles and No. 2 in doubles, knocked out No. 20 seed and Roland Garros finalist Maja Chwalińska in the first round, and will face 22-year-old Russian Diana Shnaider in the third round on Friday.Townsend, mother to five-year-old Adyn Aubrey, has not had a clothing contract since 2017.

So she did what she has done throughout her career when the conventional route closed, she created her own. The result is TT, her clothing line, which she now wears on court.“It's okay that you don't have a body like everybody else, so the things that I put on, the clothes that I wear enhance what I have. It goes along with looking good, feeling good, and playing good,” she said of the story behind her label.“I want to feel confident, I want to feel beautiful,” she added.“When I step out on the court, whatever I'm wearing is something that nobody else has. It is also something that I'm showing up uniquely as myself and that gives me a certain type of freedom.”Townsend, who won the Australian Open girls’ singles title as a 16-year-old, has in recent years enjoyed considerable success in women’s doubles, winning three Grand Slam titles alongside Katerina Siniakova. She believes the balance between singles and doubles has made her a more complete player.“I love singles because it's the ultimate test of problem solving. It's almost war. Me versus you,” she said.“I love that you have to manage yourself, your own emotions, momentum shifts, pressure… And it's just me out there. I have had many times where I have played matches, and I'm up, and then lose, or I'm down, and I win. I feel like it is indicative of life.”“I never give up, period, but in singles, I think you're really able to see, my tenacity, my resilience and how I just keep going no matter what the score is,” she said.Townsend, the first mother in WTA history to achieve the No. 1 ranking in doubles last July, said tennis’ two-player act also gives her the chance to be a leader.“Doubles gives me the opportunity to figure things out in real time with somebody else. I have to do what I do best, but also make sure my game complements my partner,” she said.

“There are times where the way I play may not mesh with the way that they play, so I have to figure out how to make that work if I want to win. Also, there are very few times where both of you are playing well together. So how do we stay together, lift each other up, and find a way to get over the finish line?”“Singles and doubles makes me a complete tennis player, it touches different parts of me,” she said.But doubles, the discipline in which Townsend has reached the summit, faces an uncertain future. If the ATP leadership has its way, doubles draws at Tour-level events will begin to shrink come 2028, as will the prize money, which is already down to an 80-20 split with singles. As of now, these changes won’t affect the WTA Tour.For Townsend, the answer is not to retreat but to keep making the case on court.“What I'm doing now is important for the viewership of doubles, pushing it forward and showing how excited people are about the game,” she said. “What I need to do is keep winning, keep being great.”