Taylor Townsend defeated to reach the US Open fourth round. The American player revealed she was congratulated by the Spanish ace Rafael Nadal in the locker room. "Rafa just said, Well done. I mean, like, Jeez", shared Townsend in a press conference.
"Yeah, but, I mean, honestly there are so many people that have just kind of been super congratulatory, just saying congratulations and just sending me really nice messages. Honestly, I was just shocked because I didn't think that many people, like, cared.
Do you know what I mean? It's amazing to see that the tennis community, quote-unquote, is watching and embracing and appreciating something that's not the norm, you know. There are people that get into the second week easily of a slam and stuff, like, do it every slam or every Masters event.
But this is my first, and, you know, it's really amazing. I appreciate it. You know, so much love to the people who have just come up to me and said, Thank you, and appreciating the things I have done. They didn't have to do that.
They went out of their way. I appreciate it." Townsend believes she has gone a long way: "I remember when I was grinding quallies at 25s, when I quit tennis for three days, that's how long I lasted (smiling). But when my ranking went from 90 to 400 literally over the course of a day, I went from being main draw of slams to quallies and 25s.
Losing. I went one year and I won four matches in a calendar year. So, I mean, I understand and I'm appreciative where I am and the growth I've made because you're able to kind of say this is where I came from and be able to not go through those same things again and you can kind of learn from your mistakes and move on."