Taylor Townsend has been forced to undergo emergency surgery after a mystery medical situation saw her withdraw from the Guadalajara Open just days after winning the US Open women’s doubles.
Townsend completed a career grand slam alongside partner Katerina Siniakova in New York last Friday.
After celebrating her career achievement, the 30-year-old headed to Mexico for the latest WTA 150 event.
She came back from a set down to beat Tatjana Maria in her first-round match on Monday but then withdrew from Wednesday’s Round of 16 game, handing Marta Kostyuk a walkover.
Townsend then revealed on social media she had undergone ’emergency surgery’ for an unspecified health issue, stating that it ‘broke her heart’ to pull out of the event.
She wrote on her Instagram Stories: ‘Welp.. this s*** definitely wasn’t on my bingo card. Through trials and tribulations still I rise. I’ll update yall soon.’
Taylor Townsend won the US Open women’s doubles in New York last week
Townsend completed the career grand slam with her latest win with Katerina Siniakova
She then shared a statement put out via the Guadalajara Open account that read: ‘Hi everybody, on the heels of achieving my first career grand slam at the US Open, I was so excited to play in front of all of you in Guadalajara.
‘Because of emergency surgery, I am forced to withdraw for the GDL Open, and it breaks my heart.
‘But, I’m looking forward to coming back here next year to see all of you, the greatest tennis fans. Viva Mexico!!!’.
Townsend took the opportunity after her historic win alongside Siniakova to make a powerful political statement in her on-court speech, proudly shining a light on Black representation on tennis’ biggest stage.
‘I take a lot of pride in this, being a Black woman here,’ Taylor Townsend told the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Not only were there two Black women playing in the doubles championship in Townsend and Robin Montgomery, but Friday night’s singles semifinal featured a pair of African-American tennis stars: Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.
‘There’s two Black women in the finals, two Black men in the semifinals,’ Townsend continued. ‘This is a phenomenal time for tennis, for inspiration, for representation.’
Townsend also thanked tennis great Chanda Rubin, who was on hand down on the court for the post-match ceremony.
‘Chanda, it means a lot for you to be standing here as well because you paved the way for us, so thank you,’ Townsend told the former No. 6 player in the world. ‘This is a phenomenal time for tennis and it’s just getting started.’
