Taylor Townsend Tennis Player has reached the fourth round of the US Open, but her story this week is about far more than one run in New York. It is a reminder of how long she has lived with scrutiny over her body, from junior tennis through to motherhood and beyond.
Townsend said in 2022 that after giving birth to her son Adyn in March 2021, she had about 80 pounds to lose. That comment sits alongside years of criticism she says affected how she saw herself and how comfortable she felt with her appearance.
From junior champion to unwanted attention
The pressure began early. At 16, Townsend was the No. 1 junior player in the world, yet the USTA told her to focus on fitness. In 2012, the USTA also kept her from receiving its usual support for the US Open.
That same year, Townsend won both the Australian Open junior singles title and the Australian Open junior doubles title. Even with that success, the conversation around her was not just about results. It was about her body, and that became a central part of her tennis story.
“They took away my dream”
Townsend addressed that history directly in 2021 when she wrote in The Players' Tribune about the repeated concerns she faced after her doctor cleared her to play. She said: “I was fat, and I was Black, so they took away my dream. Or at least they tried.”
That line captured the emotional weight of what she had been dealing with. The issue was never simply fitness. It shaped her self-image and left her trying to make peace with a body that others were always ready to judge.
Motherhood changed the focus
After becoming a mother, Townsend said her priorities shifted. The goal was no longer just to change her appearance, but to recover properly and protect her body.
She also described the challenge of adjusting to a new reality. “It was very difficult. For the longest time I was like, ‘Oh I’ve just got to lose 20 pounds’, and I struggled with that. But then after having him and I had 80 [pounds] to lose, I was like, ‘Holy crap. I’ve never had to do this before’,” she said.
That makes her current US Open run even more striking. Townsend is now preparing to face Aryna Sabalenka, and her presence in the fourth round feels like another reminder that her career has never been defined by other people’s assumptions.
What stands out most is the resilience behind it. Townsend has lived through body shaming, public doubt and the pressure that came with being a junior star. Now she is back on one of tennis’s biggest stages, with the spotlight finally on her tennis again.
