"It feels like a dream": Taylor Townsend makes big admission after becoming number one doubles player following DC Open heroics

America’s Taylor Townsend is set to become the world number one in women’s doubles after her impressive run at the ongoing DC Open. The 29-year-old, along with her partner, China’s Zhang Shuai, cemented their spot in the final of the competition after the pair of Britain’s Emma Raducanu and Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina decided to retire because of fitness issues.

With that result, Townsend is set to become the number one in the doubles rankings. She will become the 13th American player to achieve that feat. The last American to achieve that feat was Jessica Pegula in 2013. Before her, some other big names from American women's tennis have made it to the top, including the likes of Coco Gauff, Serena and Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Pam Shriver.

Townsend’s rise to the top is not a result of a one-off good season. She has been extremely impressive in the doubles category for a while. She has played in the final of every Grand Slam in the doubles category and won on two occasions as well. She lifted the Wimbledon doubles title in 2024 with the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova after beating the pair of Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6. Townsend’s second doubles Grand Slam title came earlier this year as she and her partner Siniakova lifted the Australian Open after beating the pair of Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Latvia’s Jeļena Ostapenko in the final with a score of 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.

Townsend, who also featured in the singles category at the DC Open but ended up losing in the quarterfinal to Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in straight sets, spoke to WTA’s official website after being informed that she will become the number one doubles player in the world. Townsend was clearly ecstatic after hearing the news and stated that it was her ‘dream’ come true moment and claimed that becoming the best player in the world is ‘without a doubt’ a highlight of her career.

“It is a dream,” said Townsend. “It feels like a dream and is without a doubt one of the highlights of my career. It’s one of the goals that I set for myself when I actually began to think it was attainable. I loved watching doubles, especially Martina Navratilova play, and it's an incredible honor to join the list of amazing players to have earned the No.1 ranking."

Talking about her journey to the very top, Townsend admitted that she has gone through the ‘hardest struggles’ to achieve what she has managed to do in her career, including her struggles as a kid.

“I have had to go through some of the hardest struggles and the most personal struggles in the public eye,” said Townsend. “Some really very kind of intimate topics that had to be a topic of conversation literally around the world as a child and having to defend myself as a kid. It’s made me who I am, and it’s made me appreciate every step of the way, and being able to have somebody say, externally, ‘You look so happy playing,’ that’s a win. There hasn’t been anyone who has gone through what I went through since I went through it, so I think things have changed a little bit -- which is great, right? When I was going through the whole body image thing, there was no body positivity movement. That didn’t exist. It was common to scrutinize body types and give a person a body archetype and what you should be and having to put people in this box. And now, throughout the years, it has evolved into shattering those boxes and basically people being able to accomplish whatever they want in their fields, however you look and whatever.”