Bumpy Road For Townsend On The Road To Number One

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 11th December 2012

Bumpy Road For Townsend On The Road To Number One |

Another title run for the American team of Taylor Townsend and Gabby Andrews was tainted by an unruly fan at the Orange Bowl. During their 6-4, 7-5 victory over Mexico ’s Victoria Rodriguez and Marcela Zacarias at the Orange Bowl, a fan was said to loudly heckling Townsend about her weight.

The Sun-Sentinel reported that Townsend’s mother Shelia grew angry and confronted the elderly man before asking tournament director Lew Brewer to step in. Brewer then spoke to the fan and had a volunteer monitor the situation.

“Nobody is going to disrespect my daughter like that,” Shelia Townsend said.

Taylor Townsend, who won six doubles titles with Andrew this season, said that her concentration was never broken. “I wasn’t paying attention to him. I don’t care,” Townsend said. “It feels good and am really happy. I was finally happy to get a bowl of oranges.”

The 16-year old Townsend will end 2012 as the International Tennis Federation’s No. 1-ranked junior girl in the world, the first American girl to do so since 1982, and will turn pro beginning in 2013.

“It means everything,” Andrews said of the title. “Playing doubles with Taylor means a lot, because I know she’s not going to be playing a lot of juniors next year. Hopefully I’ll play some of the tournaments she’s going to play next year.”

The 14-year old Ana Konjuh of Croatia won the 18s singles, while Serbia ’s Laslo Djere won the Boys 18s singles.