When Taylor Townsend announced at the beginning of this year’s tennis season that she would play fewer doubles tournaments to devote more effort to climbing the singles rankings, I was a bit bewildered.
Why would she do that, I wondered, after coming off a year that saw her reach a career-high doubles ranking of No. 5 in the world, win her first Women’s Tennis Association 1000 doubles title and reach her first French Open final, her second major doubles final in successive seasons.
Now, as the 2024 season winds down following the conclusion of the US Open, I am convinced Taylor knew what was best for her tennis career more than I did. And if I had a vote for WTA Player of the Year, it would go to Taylor Townsend.
Less than two years after returning from maternity leave, Taylor is playing some of the best tennis of her career. Not only has the 28-year-old Chicago native reached a career high in singles, cracking the Top 50 at No. 46 in August, but she also picked up her first major doubles title by winning the Championships at Wimbledon.
At the US Open, Taylor reached the finals in mixed doubles, teaming with longtime friend Donald Young Jr., playing his final match as a pro. She also made the semi-finals in women’s doubles, teaming with Wimbledon partner Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Motherhood seems to have freshened Taylor’s perspective on life and tennis, as she has picked up where she left off before the pandemic when she had reached a career high of 61 in singles and reached the fourth round of the US Open.
Since her return from maternity leave, Taylor has worked hard to regain her singles ranking, employing her retro serve-and-volley style of play. She began this season ranked No. 80, and her steady rise has been remarkable, drawing praise from Tennis Channel colleagues with whom she worked as a commentator while on leave.
“It’s so good to see her climbing up the ranks,” said legendary coach Paul Annacone following Taylor’s victory over hard-hitting and 11th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko at the Canadian Open in Toronto to reach her first WTA quarterfinal. “She’s come back to traverse new ground as a singles player and doubles player.”
When asked about her singles success this year, Taylor said, “I’m just trusting the work I’ve been putting in… I’m just having fun and enjoying myself.”
Following that match in Toronto, Taylor took out No.12 ranked Daria Kasatkina to make the round of 16 in Cincinnati.
For me, it has been especially gratifying to see Taylor again playing with confidence and passion because she inspired the creation of this blog.
I was so out of sorts over the United States Tennis Association’s snub of Taylor’s request for a US Open wild card berth in 2012 because of her weight, even though she was the top junior player in the world, that I decided to write about it.
The following year, I saw Taylor play for the first time at a tournament in Washington, DC, where she had reached her first doubles final as a professional. I was impressed by the poise she showed at just 17 years old, and I was in awe of her seemingly effortless power on overhead shots. The sound of the ball coming off her racquet was like a thunderclap.
She and her partner lost, but I envisioned Taylor one day lifting the champion’s trophy at one of the four major tennis tournaments that make up what is known as the Grand Slam.
My vision was realized when she won Wimbledon in July. Two weeks later, she and Asia Muhammad won the Washington DC tournament, now called the Mubadala Citi Open, that eluded her in 2013.
Taylor is an excellent singles player, but she is an extraordinary doubles player. I believe her doubles prowess could land her in the tennis Hall of Fame.
All one has to do is look at her doubles success going back to her junior career to see the potential.
In 2012, Taylor won the Australian singles and doubles junior titles, the first time an American player had won both singles and doubles at a major since Lindsay Davenport at the US Open three decades earlier. But Taylor also won the Wimbledon and US Open doubles titles and reached the semi-finals at the French Open. She was named the International Tennis Federation Junior World Champion.
In 2018, Taylor was named the World Team Tennis Female MVP while playing for the Philadelphia Freedoms for having the highest winning percentage in singles and doubles for the season.
While she has yet to win a WTA tour level singles championship – she has several titles at the lower professional tiers – she has seven doubles titles, three of them coming this year.
Along with her Wimbledon and DC titles, Taylor won the Adelaide International in Australia in January with Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia.
One of the skills required to be a good doubles player is the ability to volley well. Taylor’s net play is as good as it gets.
While calling one of Taylor’s singles matches, Tennis Channel commentator and former pro Jan-Michael Gambrills was asked if he agreed that Taylor was one of the top 5 volleyers in the WTA. Here was his response: “I don’t know anyone better, so I think she’s No. 1.”
In my book, Taylor is the best doubles player in the world. And that bodes well for her singles game.
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TennisintheHood 