PARIS (AP) — Naomi Osaka and Taylor Townsend are piling up wins on the court at the French Open.
Their success comes after drawing attention off the court for organizing a dinner for Black players before the tournament started.
“It caused a bit of a stir, which I thought was pretty funny because for so long we have been the ones that (are) the minority in a sport where we kind of stick out,” Townsend said about chatter on social media. “And now coming together all of a sudden seems like a problem.”
While Townsend said the reaction from her Instagram post about the evening was “mostly positive,” she said there was also online criticism.
Several comments on Osaka’s and Townsend’s posts suggested the dinner as “segregation,” while another asked, “When are the white, Latino, and Asian parties?”
It all prompted Townsend to quote a lyric from the rapper Finesse2tymes: “He said, ‘It’s cool when they do it; it’s a problem when I do it.’”
Keeping in the rap theme, Townsend quoted Tupac Shakur in her post about the evening: “Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice; I say the darker the flesh, then the deeper the roots.”
Besides Osaka and Townsend, the other attendees of the dinner were 2025 French Open champion Coco Gauff, retiring Frenchman Gael Monfils, doubles specialist Asia Muhammad and retired player turned TV commentator Chris Eubanks.
“Growing up, there weren’t a lot of tennis players I could look up to that looked like me,” Osaka — whose father is from Haiti and mother is from Japan — said in her Instagram post about the dinner. “Being a minority in a sport like tennis is very isolating but the positive is that you keep tabs on everyone that … being blunt, is black. There’s a fellowship, a camaraderie.”
“I felt like everyone in that room was a part of my family,” Osaka — who represents Japan but grew up mostly in the U.S. — added in a news conference.
For Townsend, “it wasn’t just about the culture, it was healing for us to all be able to speak about our journeys.”
While Gauff’s title defense ended with a loss to Anastasia Potapova on Saturday, Osaka has reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time in her career while showing off her taste for fashion with her elaborate walk-on outfits. American player Townsend and Czech partner Katerina Siniakova — the top-seeded doubles team — have won their opening three matches and are into the quarterfinals.
Althea Gibson broke tennis’ color barrier
Gauff beat Townsend in the opening round of singles, after which a ceremony was held on Court Philippe-Chatrier to honor the 70th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s 1956 French Open victory — the first Grand Slam title for a Black tennis player.
Gibson was also the first Black player to compete at a major tennis tournament when she fought with the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association just to get admitted in 1950 to what was then called the U.S. Nationals — now the U.S. Open.
“Taylor and I playing on Philippe-Chatrier is a direct product of Althea Gibson,” Gauff told the crowd after beating Townsend. “It just shows the importance of breaking barriers in all aspects of the world, but especially in sport. I’m very grateful for people like her and Serena and Venus (Williams), Zina Garrison for paving the way for us.”
‘Soul Food’ Sunday at Wimbledon
The dinner recalls how going back to the Harlem Renaissance, Black athletes, entertainers, musicians and writers held salons and dinners to celebrate their successes in a familial space. Such events were not meant as a slight to non-Blacks.
Katrina Adams, a former pro and then the first Black president of the U.S. Tennis Association, said she was pleased to see “an old tradition” re-emerging.
“In our era in the 80’s/90’s, we hosted ‘Soul Food’ Sunday on the middle Sunday of Wimbledon, when there was no play,” Adams said in a comment on Townsend’s post. “All the black players, got together, cooked, ate and enjoyed each other.”
Adams said players like Garrison and Lori McNeil hosted the Wimbledon gatherings for years and that she passed on the tradition to the likes of Chanda Rubin, the Williams sisters, MaliVai Washington and Roger Smith.
Townsend’s unexpected vacation with Osaka
Townsend and Osaka hardly knew each other before Osaka surprised Townsend by inviting her on a vacation last year to the Turks and Caicos.
Townsend is an extrovert and Osaka a very quiet introvert.
“I didn’t know why she invited me,” Townsend said. “(But) it ended up being the best time and Naomi and I floated in the ocean on a surfboard for three hours and talked to each other. … We’ve been friends ever since.”
Both players are mothers.
“We share a lot of the same values and principles and morals of how we go about life and how we want to treat people and what type of mothers that we want to be for our children,” Townsend said. “It goes way beyond tennis.”
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
