Taylor Townsend’s story with weight began long before her return to the US Open spotlight. At 16, she was the No. 1 junior player in the world when the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) told her to focus on fitness and kept her from receiving its usual support for the 2012 US Open.
Townsend later said the experience made her feel judged for both her body and her identity. Years later, after becoming a mother, she openly discussed another difficult part of the journey: getting back in shape after pregnancy.
In 2022, she said she had about 80 pounds to lose after giving birth to her son, Adyn. Her story has since become about more than weight – it is also about confidence, motherhood and learning to trust her own voice.
Taylor Townsend’s body-shaming battle started at 16
Townsend was already winning major junior events when the USTA asked her to spend eight weeks working on fitness instead of preparing normally for the US Open. She had won the 2012 Australian Open junior singles and doubles titles and was the world’s top-ranked junior.
Townsend later revealed that she was also diagnosed with anemia during that period. In her 2021 essay for The Players’ Tribune, she questioned why the USTA continued raising concerns about her weight after her doctor cleared her to play.
Taylor Townsend explained the impact of the USTA dispute
The experience stayed with Townsend well into her professional career. She wrote that being questioned about her weight became part of her life as a tennis player and affected how she saw herself.
In her own words, Townsend wrote: “I was fat, and I was Black, so they took away my dream. Or at least they tried.”
She also described how she stopped feeling comfortable with her appearance and began covering up more. Her comments made clear that the issue was not simply about fitness. For Townsend, it was tied to being a Black woman in a sport where she felt she did not fit the expected image.
Taylor Townsend’s weight-loss journey after giving birth
Townsend gave birth to her son Adyn in March 2021 and returned to professional tennis the following year. Getting back to her old level of fitness was not easy.
In 2022, Townsend explained that she initially thought she only needed to lose 20 pounds. After having her son, she said she had about 80 pounds to lose.
“It was very difficult. For the longest time I was like, ‘Oh I’ve just got to lose 20 pounds’, and I struggled with that. But then after having him and I had 80 [pounds] to lose, I was like, ‘Holy crap. I’ve never had to do this before’,” Townsend told the US Open.
Taylor Townsend’s fitness approach changed during her tennis comeback
Townsend’s approach to fitness changed after motherhood. She worked to get back into shape while returning to professional tennis, but her focus was no longer only on losing weight. She began paying more attention to recovery and how much strain she put on her body.
That approach has continued into 2026. Townsend has reached the fourth round of the US Open, where she is set to face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Her run in New York shows how far she has come since the years when her weight was used to question whether she belonged in top-level tennis.
For Townsend, fitness is now about being able to keep competing at the highest level while taking better care of her body.
