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US OPEN

August 29, 2019

Taylor Townsend

New York, NY, USA

T. TOWNSEND/S. Halep

2-6, 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. To watch your emotions in your on-court interview was moving. Clearly a lot went into what you were able to do today. Talk about that.
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, I mean, I see a lot of familiar faces in here (smiling).

It's been, like, a really long journey. You flood with emotions of the things you've been through, positive, negative. Just to be able to, like, get over the hump, it's such an amazing feeling because, like, I mean, after Wimbledon, I was devastated after I lost to Bertens after having a match point. That, like, woke me up out of my sleep. Oh, dropshot (laughter).

I put my head down and just worked really hard and just tried to, like, take the positives away from it, just continue to press forward. I think for so long that's been kind of, like, my whole thing, is just continue to press forward and just realize that, like, I belong on this level. You know what I mean? I've had a lot of people doubting me being able to break through, quote unquote.

It's just confirmation more for myself that I'm on the right path, doing the right things. You keep your head down and keep working and you see what happens.

Q. She said when she played you before, you were kind of a different player. Talk about having nothing to lose out there.
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, I mean, I've played her three other times. It wasn't like it was any mystery going into the match. Obviously she's coming off a lot of confidence. She won Wimbledon. She's very match-tough.

I mean, honestly, like I said on court, I feel like a lot of the times when I was playing her, I played, like, not to lose. A player like that, she's just way too solid, has had so much experience, that's not going to fly. I mean, I was just, like, what do you have to lose? I'm just going to go for it, I'm going to do what I do best where I'm the most comfortable, which is at the net.

I won a lot of points. I lost points. I lost big points. But I was rewarded in the end. That's what was most satisfying.

Q. When did you make that decision, that you were going to play serve-and-volley, chip-and-charge tennis? Was it last night?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: No. I don't think someone could do that overnight, to be honest (laughter). No offense.

I've always came to the net. Ever since I started playing tennis, I was always more comfortable at the net than the baseline. When I was growing up, my sister was like a bam-bam, so she hit super hard, so solid from the ground.

Me, I was always doing weird stuff, chipping middle shots on the forehand side. I was doing crazy stuff. It was what I enjoyed doing. I always enjoyed coming to the net. It's always a fine line, especially as you move up and through the levels, that you have to kind of hone in and have things that you do well. You have strengths, but you have to be solid from a certain point because these players are just too good. The level only gets higher.

I think it was really great confirmation that this style of play works, that I can continue to do it.

Q. You mentioned something about overcoming doubters. For you they were very real. How has it been fighting that off over the last seven, eight years? Do you ever let that get to?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, I mean, it's never easy because I think, as a lot of you guys know, I've dealt with a lot of personal stuff in the media light. So it's really hard to deal with that kind of stuff, like, when personal issues are publicized because you have to make it up in your mind of how you deal with that. That's always attached to you. You have to kind of maneuver through those things.

Yeah, I mean, it's been a long road. A lot of haters, a lot of people who weren't sure. I mean, I've heard it for a really long time that I was never going to make it, that I wasn't going to be able to break through or do this or do that. Sometimes when you were close, you never quite got over it, it's always the word 'talented' or something like that.

For me, especially over this last year, I've kind of like really embraced that, thriving in these kind of conditions, being able to prove people wrong. I've always been that way, but I think I suppressed that side of me for a long time. I've just embraced it and it's like, This is the person I am. I love it. I thrive in these kind of conditions and I think it showed today.

Q. You're a player that people love watching. People root for you, tweets are blowing up in terms of fans being happy for you. How do you balance that positivity of people are rooting for you against the haters and the negativity that you do feel?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Well, I actually went on a social media sabbatical for, like, a year and a half. I was just tired of it. I didn't really know why it was bothering me. I was just, like, I can't do this anymore.

Then I got back on. I think it was more growth, like, in myself, saying, When do you ever meet these people? Like never. You know what I mean? Like realizing that the things that people say don't matter. It's about how you feel about yourself, about how you feel going out on that court.

Anything that anyone has to say, it literally is null and void. I truly believe that from the bottom of my heart now. You can say it, and a lot of people say it, and talk the talk but don't walk the walk. You know what I mean?

For me, I truly believe that. I know where I stand. I know who I am. I know what makes me tick. Going along with that, like I said, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You dust yourself off and you keep going.

Q. There's always conversations everywhere about the next generation of U.S. women's tennis players. Do you feel you've been overlooked in recent years in that conversation?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I don't know. I mean, honestly, that conversation doesn't really matter to me. It's an ever-evolving door. Any time that someone has one good result or two good results, they're the next. You know what I mean?

It was, like, maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. I don't know. But it doesn't matter because I'm here now.

Q. All the answers you're giving, it sounds like a woman who is comfortable in her own skin. This obviously being the biggest match win of your career, does that mean now for you in your mind going forward this is the player you always have known you can be, what we're going to see from you going forward?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Yeah, absolutely. That would be very dumb to not do it. I'm just going to say it (laughter).

But, yeah, I mean, like I said, it's growth. I'm 23. Some of you guys I've known literally since I was 15, 16 years old. It's insane. But it's just growth, like, as a person. I think, like, that's the beauty of this sport, that you can watch people from such a young age kind of develop as people and players.

For me, like, you know, I've just evolved. Like I said, I've always been this person. I think for some years I was lost, lost in a sea of a lot of stuff. But it's nice to be able to come up to the surface and float, eventually swim.

Q. You said you know who you are. Who are you?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: That's a deep question. Who are you (laughter)?

I don't really think we need to get into that. I mean, that's more personal. Like I said, I'm comfortable with who I am and the person I've become. I think that we can all look back from the time that I was 15 or 16 to now. I'm, like, wearing 45,000 bracelets on my wrist, bows, braces, to like now it's a huge transformation.

I mean, in terms of a player, I just feel like this was a huge, monumental moment. It was a very defining moment for me to realize that I belong here.

Q. A question about scheduling. You tend to play only in the States, tournaments before slams. Why is that? Do you plan to continue doing that?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: You meant this summer?

Q. This year.
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Oh, well, no. I mean, honestly tennis is just about getting matches. I'm a logic person. I try to follow things that make sense, not just because it's what everyone does or because it's routine.

I think that's really how a lot of people are conditioned. I'm just not that way. I don't have a whole bunch of sponsors knocking down my door giving me money. A lot of the stuff is coming out of my pocket. So I have to be very financially smart with where I go, where I travel, what makes sense just because, you know, this is a very expensive sport. I think that a lot of people don't really see that side of it.

For me, like, I have to go and do things that are financially advantageous. Is it smart to go to Europe for 12 weeks in quallies where you make $900 if you lose first round and your flight was $3,000 to get there? You can do the math.

Q. Doubles, what is the plan in terms of female and mixed?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Here I'm not playing mixed. I was, but I am scheduled to play a tournament next week, so I told the guy that I was going to be playing with that I felt really bad that I could commit and possibly have to pull out. I'm just not that kind of person.

He's a doubles player, so I feel like it's fair to you to give yourself the best opportunities to do as well as you can for someone that's like fully invested and doesn't have to be somewhere the following week if you do do well.

Doubles, I'm playing with Whitney Osuigwe. I'm super excited about that. We planned this for a long time. I played her three times this summer. I'm excited. She's a really good player. I like her dad and all the people. She has a good vibe. I'm excited on the court with her.

Q. Althea Gibson's statue, your thoughts on the unveiling?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I think it's amazing. I think it's finally her time to shine. You know what I mean? She's done so much. She did so much for the sport. She was so influential, especially for African American athletes, female or male. I think that finally she's getting the recognition that she deserves of being as much of a pioneer as she was.

I mean, I didn't go to the unveiling because I'm pretty sure I had to play or practice or something like that. Like I said, I was passing by it every day during quallies. I actually stopped and looked at it, kind of admired how beautiful it was. Took a minute to appreciate what it really meant.

Q. Speaking of your game, rewind back to when you were 15 and playing, in a lot of ways you spearheaded this new going to the net, playing with more variety, being smarter in terms of tactics. Now fast forwarding on we see players like Andreescu, last night McNally was chipping and charging into the net, Ash. Do you see this wave, Su-Wei Hsieh.
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I love the way she plays. It's awesome.

Q. For a long time, the book on women's tennis has been bang-bang. It seems like there's a shift happening.
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I think there have always been those few players that can do it. Like I said, a lot of people do things because they feel that's how they're supposed to do it. There's a certain tradition, routine, this and that, this and that.

Like I said, this is an individual sport. That's the beauty of it, finding the right coach and the right team, understanding you as a person, what works for you, not necessarily what everybody else does, but you can go along and kind of see, use that as a template, but really what works for you.

Yeah, I mean, Ash, we played juniors. She was one year older. Still, I mean, she always kind of had that variety. I loved watching her play. Su-Wei, her hands are ridiculous.

Yeah, it's always fun just because it gives something different and something that people can look forward to that is not just going to be the same kind of thing. Not knocking any of those people because clearly it works. But to each their own, which is amazing.

Q. (Question about qualifying.)
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: I definitely had a fire lit under my a-s-s. I was super pumped because, like, the last time I played her, I quallied, lost to Wozniacki in a really tough match, like 6-4 in the third. Could have won easily -- not easily, but it could have went either way.

Yeah, I mean, I kind of went into qualifying, like, on a mission. I'm doing this. I had my head down. I'm going to do this. I think, like I said, it always gives you a lot of confidence to be able to pull out three matches in a row and earn your spot in the main draw. Like nobody gave it to you. You earned your way there.

I think that's a really satisfying feeling. Being able to have three matches versus other people playing their first match, you've kind of battled through things that they're just feeling. First match of a slam, stuff like that.

It does give you a lot of confidence. I'm not saying I want to do it every slam. But it's definitely nice to be able to have that accomplishment and to be able to pat myself on the back and say, You did that.

Q. You mentioned the tough times you went through. Who were the people you leaned on to get you through?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: Well, I don't really like people in my business, so I'm not going to name names.

Definitely, like, my immediate family. These two girls over here in the corner, like, were amazing. Sometimes you say friends are family. Some of my family gave me a headache. I'm not going to lie.

Sometimes having extended family and people that you're not related to, but you have built relationships with and kind of can see things from an outside perspective, it's always really healthy.

Just my friends, you know, people that I've been around. I actually, like, cut a lot of people off and made my circle extremely small. That's how I like it. I realize that's one thing that I enjoy.

Yeah, I think shout out to the small circle.

Q. Simona said you reached out to her in Miami. Do you remember what that advice was? Has it been part of your modus operandi?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: My heart was beating through my chest when I talked to her because I'm not that kind of person at all. That's just not anything that I would do.

But something inside of me was nudging me to, like, ask her. She just kicked my a-s-s in Miami, so I was, like, Screw it, let's see what she felt on the other side of the net. I know what I felt, but I was curious to see what she felt.

She gave me some good advice. Honestly, she didn't really tell me anything I didn't know, but it was good to hear it from another player, someone I just played, played a couple of times. Especially someone who is at such a high level, has accomplished so much.

I don't know why I did it, but I did it. It kind of stuck with me. I'm not saying that, like, everything she said I implemented into my training, but it was definitely in the back of my head to remember what she said and also remember why I asked, what drove me to ask that question, kind of that hunger and desire to get better.

I think I kind of turned that into more of a positive to say, Hey, you can continue to learn and grow.

Q. Did it help you today?
TAYLOR TOWNSEND: No (laughter).

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