"There was no body positivity movement. That didn’t exist": Taylor Townsend recalls junior outcast after becoming doubles No. 1

The new doubles world No. 1 Taylor Townsend gave an emotional speech after winning the DC Open title alongside China's Shuai Zhang. The American had partnered with Katerina Siniakova – the former No. 1 for the last few years – throughout the year, and they remained almost tied in points until a week ago, with the Czech leading slightly.

However, this week's results, where Townsend claimed the DC title with Zhang, provided a surge in her ranking, propelling her to the top of the doubles ranking for the first time in her career.

In the final, they faced local favorites Sofia Kenin and Caroline Dolehide, securing a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 victory. It was Townsend's 10th career doubles title, a player who hasn't been able to excel in singles as much as was expected in her youth, where she was considered one of the great prospects for the future of tennis.

Indeed, Townsend became the Junior No. 1 in 2012, winning the Australian Open singles title. At 16, she was the world's top-ranked junior player but was told by the USTA to focus on fitness, which led to her missing the Junior US Open and having her funding revoked.

"I have had to go through some of the hardest struggles and the most personal struggles in the public eye. 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," said Taylor Townsend.

"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," the new doubles world No. 1 stated

Her first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw was at the French Open 2014, where at 18, she reached the third round – defeating local top-20 Alize Cornet on her way, before being eliminated by Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro (14th seed). Only on two other occasions has she achieved consecutive wins in a Grand Slam tournament: US Open 2019 (4th round) and 2023 (3rd round). Townsend reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 46 in 2024, but currently sits at only No. 97.

However, in doubles, she has been one of the best over the last couple of seasons. Since January 2023, she has won 8 doubles titles – including Wimbledon 2024 and Australian Open 2025 – both alongside Katerina Siniakova. The Czech this week attended the Prague Open, where she only competed in the singles draw (reaching the quarterfinals), thus losing the opportunity to add points, allowing Townsend to sneak in as the No. 1 in doubles for the first time.

After her doubles triumph, the American gave a special speech, joined by her son Adyn. Let's remember that Townsend is one of the players on Tour who has paused her career for maternity. The American took a year-long break in 2021 and returned to the Tour in 2022. Since then, she has had the best moments of her career, in both singles and doubles.

Her son made his presence felt during the speech, creating a funny moment by grabbing the microphone during the champions' speech: "My mom had a good match... and a big dog."