Taylor Townsend proposes two changes she would love to see made to tennis, ‘we need to progress’

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Taylor Townsend made plenty of headlines in New York, competing in the mixed doubles, doubles, and singles.

After losing in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles alongside Ben Shelton, Townsend turned her attention to the singles, where she beat Antonia Ruzic in round one.

It was in the second round that the American found herself embroiled in controversy, as Jelena Ostapenko confronted Townsend at the net, claiming she had ‘no respect’ and ‘no education’ after their match.

Moving past the incident, Townsend reached the fourth round of the singles, losing out to Barbora Krejcikova in a three-set thriller.

In doubles, Townsend qualified for another Grand Slam final, as she and Katerina Siniakova finished as runners-up to Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe.

After an all-action tournament, where her profile grew significantly, Townsend has now been asked what changes she would like to see made to tennis.

Taylor Townsend wants to see the ‘expectation of etiquette’ in tennis changed

Appearing as a guest on ‘The Pivot’ podcast, Townsend picked two things she’d like to see changed in tennis.

“I think first would be the expectation of etiquette. Not sportsmanship. Sportsmanship is honoring your opponent and respecting what they have got going on and what they are trying to do. You are honoring the sport,” she said.

“But beyond that, we can compete. We can be rough. We can talk. We can do whatever.

“I feel like in tennis there is this expectation of etiquette and being prim and proper, and I have to apologise even if I don’t mean it.

“I would change that. And it’s funny because I love Ben Shelton to death, he is like a little brother, and he is dating Trinity Rodman, and she talked about not understanding this.

“This is her first introduction into tennis, and she’s dating Ben, who is one of the most electric players on the Tour when it comes to not only showing emotion but the celebrations and all the things, where it’s just being able to show our culture but still in a classy way, by being himself.

“And Trinity was like I don’t understand why you guys are mad about a celebration? In any other sport, we have celebrations.

“In football, you have a new celebration at every touchdown! I look at them like that’s fire! And even in basketball and baseball, this is a part of the culture. Why can it not be in tennis?

“So I would change that. Just in terms of opening people’s minds and just getting rid of the expectation of people to act a certain way because this is how it’s always been.

“We need to progress and evolve. This is not what it is anymore; we are not in the 50s and 60s.”

Townsend’s second change focused more on doubles, where she is currently ranked number one in the world.

“The second thing I would change, and I feel I am really blessed to be in this position, is being able to change the mentality around doubles and people feeling as though it’s less of a sport, that it’s not as hard, that it’s not challenging. People think that it’s easy,” she said.

“I feel I am really blessed to be in the position I am, being number one in the world, and I am very vocal and a huge advocate for doubles and respecting the game.

“It’s okay that it’s not singles. That’s fine. But what I say is that it requires a different set of skills.”

Townsend is the world number one in women’s doubles and has two major titles to her name.

Taylor Townsend’s record in Grand Slam finals

The American star has played seven Grand Slam finals across mixed doubles and women’s doubles, winning two and losing five.

Looking to add to her major tally, Townsend will return to Grand Slam action at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday, January 12, 2026.