How Taylor Townsend Overcame Weight Discrimination to Become a Grand Slam Champ | A Short Film About

When I sit back and I look and reflect, I really get strength from the resilience that I've maintained throughout all of these years. As I've continue to evolve and grow as a person, I'm also doing this within my career. And I've realize the importance of me being a good person and how important it is to pour into that bucket. And what that does in terms of transpiring to everything else. And that's really what I'm working towards, just my true version of who I am coming out and being on display to play my best tennis all the time. That's all I care about. I'm Taylor Townsend. I'm 27 years old. I think I'm known for being Super Mom, dope, fun person, great energy, and maybe a good tennis player. My earliest tennis memory, it's actually quite traumatizing. So, like, I actually started playing tennis with my right hand and I would always fall. So like, I would hit and tumble and trip and hit the back of my head. And then I’d like, see little tweety birds. And then my coach told my parents, they were like, “You need to get her checked because I don't think that the elevator goes all the way up.” So then randomly, one day, my coaches were like, “Put the racket in your left hand.” And then I started playing and then I stopped falling. I remember being so mad because, like, I played for a couple of years with my right hand, And then when I switched to my left, I was just completely starting over again. And I was so mad, like that just irritated me so much. And now I'm not regretting it so much. So I realize that I am naturally left handed and you know, lefties rule the world, we’re the best. So, you know, I'm not complaining. We're in off season right now, so it's a little bit more intense, a little bit more frequent, tougher on the fitness because we're building for the season. That's why I'm not missing. The biggest inspiration that I have to this day is definitely my son, Adyn. My life has completely changed since having him and the perspective that I have in so many different areas of my life is just something that I can't describe. It has given me such a healthy perspective when it comes to the sport of tennis because I love it so much more now, because it's not everything to me. I realized how much I needed an outlet to get me away and allow me to have another way that I could channel my love and certain emotions. I thought I loved my dogs a lot, but like, this is like a whole nother level. I'm not doing it for him. I'm honestly doing it for me. But I'm doing it to show him the importance of certain aspects, like working hard. I’m making these sacrifices so that he can see the benefit of doing hard things. It's a lot of different things that I've experienced throughout my career, throughout the sport. The mental acceptance of how little time I have and how my days are split up, it's just been really frustrating for me when I get home and I only have an hour or two with my son, like, that has been so hard. It's been so hard. On one side, I know this is what I have to do in order for me to continue to progress and be better and get better and perform better so that I can take him on the road with me more. But on the other side, I'm just like, I just want to be here with him. Even if I can spend two more hours, three more hours, like, I just wish I had more time. It pulls on me every single day. I've had times where I wanted to pivot. I've had times when I stopped and I'm just like, “I'm done.” Like, “This is ridiculous. I'm tired of this.” But it ultimately always came back to me wanting to continue. It’s just in my blood. It's just who I am. I stay driven, I stay motivating myself to want more. I just try and be there and be present and just make it like quality time as much as I can. I realize that the physical completely dwindles away if you don't take care of your mental. The body won't do what the mind doesn't allow it. You have to be good as a person in order for you to get the most out of anything that you do, that you decide to embark on. Anything. The body can go, the body can push, but it's only going to go so far. It can contribute to you playing some of the best games, matches whatever of your career because you are content with you. Having to deal with my image, my weight and everything being talked about in the public eye, at 15 years old, I realized that I cared so much about what people had to say about me. So whenever I would go and play, I would hear those voices and I would hear my own voice giving that negative feedback. When I got to the place where I was content and happy with who I am, it freed me up so much because that wasn't something that was taking a mental toll on me anymore. I'm comfortable with who I am. So I don't care if you think I have a big stomach, I'm gonna wear a crop top, you know? And I’ve now gotten the confidence to be able to even inspire other people to say, “Look, I had a kid, I got stretch marks on my stomach, I got fupa, whatever you want to call it. I don't care.” But it's like, it's not going to stop me from wearing what I want or feeling good in my skin. And that has directly tied into me being more comfortable as a player to trust myself when I'm down or when I'm up and it's time to close it out or it's time to fight back. I trust that I can do that because I trust me. I would describe my style of play as aggressive. I'm an all court player. I can do everything on the court. I can hit every shot. But I'm aggressive, I'm a go getter. Like, I'm in your face. I'm like, “Do something,” you know? So it could be kind of a little bit element of bullying in there a little bit. I just feel like this sport does something to you where it just makes you go crazy. Honestly. You practice something 50 million times and you get out on the court and it just doesn't happen. Like, “Where did everything go?” I'm very intentional with what I do, especially now that I know that I have a son that's watching me and that's so proud of me. I'm not going to slam my racket, I'm not going to act like a spoiled brat. I'm not going to do that because that's not what I would want him to do. It’s made me more relaxed because I realize that there's something bigger than a win or loss on a tennis court. Some athletes that I looked up to growing up were definitely Serena and Venus Williams. Just being a woman of color and a young kid of color who was playing tennis, it was always super inspiring to see them. And it kind of gave me hope that one day I could be like them. To be honest, I never really believed that I could do it. Like, if people asked me, like, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always was like, “A chef,” or, at one point I wanted to be a medical examiner because I watched a lot of CSI Miami. So, like, I never really believed that I could really be like a high level tennis player. So, now being able to live that dream and be able to do this and then kind of be in the other position where I'm inspiring young girls of color and really just people in general, I think is like such a full circle moment for me. The biggest hope for me is that my actions and what I'm doing, just shows him that like, nothing that's worth it comes easy. So doing the hard things, things that we don't want, things that we, like make our stomach turn, it's worth it and it will be worth it in some way, shape or form. I just hope that what I'm doing, who I am, how I act, how I treat people, how I treat him, is impactful in a way where it’s just like when you think about Taylor Townsend, there's a certain image and feeling that comes to mind that's nothing but joy, positivity and love. My experiences have really shaped me and is shaping me into the mother that I am. Me learning and being on this journey to walk into that understanding that he is starting out on a pedestal that I had to climb up to get to. He's the love of my life and even when he looks back on this, he'll know that, yeah. This Mom.