Taylor Townsend never really shied away from telling it like it is. But when it came to family, the lines between teammate and big sister blurred in ways she couldn’t control. In a recent podcast appearance, Townsend revealed the real reason she stopped playing doubles with her sister, Symone.
Let’s just say, things got a little heated on the court. What happened between the Townsend sisters, and how did a single serve change everything?
Why Did Taylor Townsend End Her Doubles Run With Sister Symone?
Taylor Townsend’s older sister, Symone Townsend, played collegiate tennis at Florida A&M University, where she often held down the No. 1 singles spot for the Lady Rattlers. The two sisters in Chicago shared a deep love for the sport, training together and looking up to their mom, Sheila, who played at Lincoln University.
Even though Symone’s tennis journey ended early for personal reasons, her impact on Taylor was huge. Their court time together gave Taylor a solid base for her own run in pro tennis, especially in doubles. But things changed, and the sisters stopped teaming up after a stretch that sticks with Taylor to this day.
During a recent stop on the Pivot Podcast, Taylor explained how her competitive streak clashed with sisterly support during doubles matches. “As we started to evolve and kind of went up, we started playing doubles with each other. So we were playing at a tournament, and I would get so mad when she would miss or if she would do something stupid.
And so I’m like, ‘Bro, what are you doing? You’re making us lose. I’m great and you’re making us lose.’ Like I couldn’t do anything wrong. And so she was at the net. I’m bouncing the ball to serve, and I was like, I got to teach her a lesson,” she said.
That’s when things escalated. “I throw the ball up and I serve it at the back of her head on purpose. And the whole match, I was like, ‘Oh, my bad. I’m so sorry.’ But the whole match, every time she would miss, I would try and hit her with the ball. Like, I got to teach you a lesson. Stop doing this.
My parents were so embarrassed. My dad walked off, his head was down. He’s like, ‘I cannot believe this.’ He got both of us off the court. I’m pretty sure we lost the match, and he was just like, ‘No more. Y’all can’t play no more ever.’ And that was like the last time that we ever played double with each other,” she added.
More recently, Townsend teamed up with Katerina Siniakova at the US Open 2025 and made a run to the finals. The pair lost in the championship to Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski, but Townsend’s drive on the doubles court has never faded– even if she’s no longer sharing it with her sister.
How Did Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko’s US Open Clash Reach a Truce?
Following her second-round loss to Taylor Townsend at the 2025 US Open, Jelena Ostapenko confronted Townsend at the net, accusing her of lacking “class” and “education.” Ostapenko’s frustration boiled over when Townsend didn’t apologize after a net-cord winner and also chose to warm up at the net instead of the baseline, which Ostapenko saw as tennis etiquette violations.
After the match, Ostapenko took to social media to explain her comments, stating, “English is not my native language, so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.” She went on to say she regretted any unintended insult.
Townsend accepted the apology, calling it “nice” and a “learning lesson” for Ostapenko. So while tempers flared in the moment, both players moved on, showing that even at the highest level, respect can win out in the end.
