Taylor Townsend has been absent from the WTA Tour since the Australian Open.
Townsend split with her coach at the end of the 2025 season, despite winning a Grand Slam title and reaching world number one in the doubles rankings last year.
The American played her first tournament of the year at the Australian Open, with Townsend losing in qualifying.
Despite then receiving a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser, Townsend lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Hailey Baptiste.
Townsend has not played another tournament since the Australian Open, and she has now revealed the real reason why.
Taylor Townsend explains reason for her absence from the WTA Tour
As well as being a top doubles player on the WTA Tour, Townsend also has a four-year-old son, Adyn, who she gave birth to in March 2021.
When taking to Instagram to explain her absence from the match court, Townsend revealed that she needed to be at home for her son, who she revealed was going through a ‘transitional period’.
Townsend also provided an update on her upcoming tournaments, as she planned to return to action in the coming weeks for the ATX Open.
“Hey guys, so I wanted to give you guys a little bit of an update on what’s been going on and why I pulled out of some of the tournaments,” Townsend said in a video for Instagram.
“So, I had a personal matter at home that came up regarding my son and I needed to be here for him as his mother through this transitional period. Being a mother is the most important thing to me and as much as I love tennis, I love my son way more (laughs).
“So that is why I had to pull out from the events. I was going to be playing Abu Dhabi and Doha, and I was really excited to go back to those places, they’re so beautiful.
“After this time I’ll be starting off in Austin, really excited to go back there. So, I’ll be in Austin, Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston and that’s my next chunk of tournaments before we hit the clay.”
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Who is Taylor Townsend playing doubles with at the ATX Open?
As the current world number 116, Townsend will need to play in the singles qualifying draw at the ATX Open this year.
That is unless Townsend is handed a wildcard, with two already given out to Jelena Ostapenko and Venus Williams for this year’s ATX Open.
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While she is not currently in the main draw of the singles tournament in Austin yet, Townsend has a confirmed partner for the doubles draw.
Townsend’s main partner is Katerina Siniakova, who she has won two Grand Slam titles with, but she will be playing alongside someone else at the ATX Open.
Instead of playing with Siniakova, Townsend will actually be partnered alongside Storm Hunter, who is another former doubles number one and is making her way back up the ranks after rupturing her Achilles tendon.
Townsend and Hunter will join forces for the doubles tournament at the ATX Open, which gets underway on Monday, February 23.
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