NEW YORK — Taylor Townsend had simply misplaced in straight units to the No. 1 participant on the earth, however a little bit greater than an hour after the match ended Sunday afternoon, she got here to the interview room upbeat, clear about what she had favored and what she would take from it.
There was a sensible accounting of the match, after all. Aryna Sabalenka’s serve had bailed her out in huge moments. Townsend had been up 3-1 within the second set and didn’t make it maintain. She and her coach regarded on the numbers afterward and figured that 10 or 12 factors, turned the opposite manner, may need made for a unique end result.
However Townsend has been round lengthy sufficient to know when a loss is only a loss — and when it says one thing extra.
“This was essentially the most comfy and assured I’ve ever been taking part in in opposition to a No. 1 participant on the earth,” Townsend mentioned after Sabalenka’s 6-4, 6-3 win within the US Open fourth spherical. “From the start I felt like I belonged. From the start I felt like I used to be proper the place I wanted to be. I nonetheless really feel that manner.”
Townsend has spent half her life within the public eye. On Sunday, she talked concerning the distance from {the teenager} in bows and braces to the 30-year-old mom she is now — nonetheless bettering, and extra comfy than ever letting folks see who she is.
Earlier than the match, she arrived on Arthur Ashe Stadium carrying a feathered jacket over a rhinestone-accented costume. The jacket was gentle, she defined, constructed to transfer with the breeze. When it got here off, there was the look she had been ready to reveal.
“It’s like I’ve my armor beneath this jacket,” Townsend mentioned. “Increase, I’m prepared for struggle, I’m prepared to go.”
The look match the second. This US Open, Townsend has performed along with her common selection, made a memorable entrance and dealt with her greatest singles match of the event with the identical candor afterward.
In opposition to Sabalenka, the margins have been slim however unforgiving. The primary 4 video games have been breaks of serve, Townsend erased a part of a 5-2 first-set deficit and later led 3-1 within the second. Sabalenka answered every push, as champions have a tendency to do, however Townsend didn’t go away questioning whether or not she may compete there.
“I felt like I had every little thing that I wanted to compete along with her,” Townsend mentioned. “If you have a look at the stats and also you’re proper there, it simply actually motivates me to say, ‘OK, I’m there.’”
Sabalenka, in search of a 3rd straight US Open title, was adequate to make Townsend applaud from throughout the online at instances.
“That’s what occurs if you end up taking part in the very best gamers on the earth,” Townsend mentioned. “Too good.”
Townsend shouldn’t be completed in New York. She stays within the doubles draw, and a event referee advised her coach she was the one participant nonetheless competing in each singles and doubles.
“For me, I put on that very proudly,” Townsend mentioned. “My event isn’t over but.”
