Taylor Townsend wins Atlanta Open

Taylor Townsend was not scheduled to play Sunday night.

But when Venus Williams withdrew from the Atlanta Open Showdown on Sunday due to injury, Townsend was asked to return to a place she calls home and step into Williams’ shoes. Those are big shoes — Williams is a fan favorite at the Showdown because of her larger-than-life personality. But Townsend filled them with her straight-set victory over Sloane Stephens (7-6, 6-3) and her vibrant personality that filled the court with laughter and excitement.

“I’m just really excited and so happy to be able to come home and be able to share this experience with my loved ones, my family and my friends,” Townsend said after the game. “And then to do something like this. We don’t get to do that very often.”

Townsend celebrated her Wimbledon trophy the night before and joked that she had a bit of trouble getting on court on Sunday after a fun night. That wasn’t the only reason she struggled early in the match. Exhibitions are less stressful for players and often allow them to have fun, but Townsend noted that she found it difficult at first.

“We know it’s serious, but at the same time, it’s for fun,” Townsend said. “It’s a little tricky! At first, I had a hard time calibrating, not hitting too hard, not hitting too soft.”

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Stephens dominated most of the first set, winning back-to-back games to lead Townsend several times. But Townsend found her footing and defeated Stephens with powerful serves and a sliced ​​backhand. Townsend then completely dominated Stephens in the second set, beating her in nine games.

Although games were sometimes called for, women found plenty of room to have fun and express themselves.

Townsend in particular was very involved with the crowd, frequently responding to the audience’s shouts. The two argued with the umpire on several occasions (both winning their arguments). They chirped at each other as they served and sometimes made silly soft serves to catch their opponents off guard. But the funniest moment was when each of them asked a ball girl to play with her in Stephens’ case or instead of her in Townsend’s case. It all added up to a roaring crowd that was always laughing at something and a fun evening despite an hour’s interruption due to rain.

“I wanted to make sure the audience felt involved,” Townsend said. “I wanted to make sure they understood us and had fun with us. Tennis can be a very strict sport, where you have to be calm and follow the rules. So to be able to get out of that situation is always nice and fun.”

Townsend’s star has been on the rise since her Wimbledon doubles win, and she and Stephens will both be heading to Washington, D.C., soon to continue playing tennis. But for now, Townsend is playing in a place that means so much to her, especially since this is the final Atlanta Open.

“To be able to come here in such a special environment and be able to witness professional tennis at this level and be so much fun and be in the presence of a Grand Slam singer and someone who is honestly just an incredible person and an inspiration and does incredible things on and off the court – I think that makes this moment really special,” Townsend said.

“So I’m really happy that I was able to christen the court and finish it off the way I did. And again, I’m just going to continue to say that I’m really, really motivated to try to bring professional tennis back to the city because I think it’s a great place with a lot of opportunity. So I’m going to talk to the mayor about that.”