Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova winning the women’s doubles title at Roland Garros feels poetic.
The American-Czechia duo, who were the No 1 seeds, beat No 2 seeds Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 7-5 in Sunday's final to secure their sixth title as a team and put a bow on what has been a seminal French Open for Townsend.
On the eve of this year’s tournament, Townsend co-hosted a vibey-looking, all-black dinner party at Soho House in Paris with friend and former world No 1 Naomi Osaka. Attendees included two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff, soon-to-be-retired Gaël Monfils, doubles specialist Asia Muhammad and player turned star pundit Christopher Eubanks.
“Hosting this dinner was much bigger than us,” Townsend said in an Instagram post. “Laughs, stories and wisdom shared… this was not only good for the culture, it was great for the soul.”
Osaka pointed to the “fellowship, a camaraderie that doesn’t need words to describe” in her IG post that resonated with so many all over the world.
“There’s a saying, ‘when you win I feel like I win too’ and while that’s true I also feel like seeing any of us exist in this space that is so clearly not for us is a win in itself,” Osaka continued. “Our presence is a present and I’m so grateful for the gift of my peers.”
Before Townsend embarked on her championship-winning doubles run with Siniakova, she had the small task of taking on defending champion Gauff in the first round in the singles draw. That match was played on Tuesday 26 May, 70 years to the day Althea Gibson became the first black woman to win a Grand Slam in Paris in 1956.
Speaking about the significance of that opening-round singles match against Gauff, Townsend said: “It definitely means a lot. To be able to play against Coco [Gauff] on the court where you know she won Roland Garros last year as the defending champion. It doesn’t happen very often where you know you can click on the TV and see two women of colour playing against each other on one of the biggest stages in Paris. Like it’s really something special and I don’t take that lightly.
“I hold it in very high regard to be able to continue to push these narratives forward and continue to represent us in the best way that we can. Represent myself, my culture, you know everything that I stand for and you know I feel like I’m doing it and without even saying any words for someone to be able to look at that or see that picture of us on the court I think that that speaks a thousand words as well. So you know, I feel very honoured and I feel like everyone who’s out here now who’s a person of colour is really making the legacies proud and establishing their own as well.”
Townsend is well and truly establishing her legacy in the sport. Last year the 30-year-old American became the first mother in history to reach the world No 1 ranking in doubles. That was the same year she won the Australian Open women’s doubles crown with Siniakova – their second Grand Slam title following their first as a team at Wimbledon in 2024.
Two years on from their first, they are one major (US Open) shy of completing the set, better known as The Career Grand Slam and it feels inevitable for the No 1 pair.