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By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Saturday, July 13, 2024
For Taylor Townsend, a fateful “sliding into one’s DMs” moment proved pivotal for her career.
Now the American can finally say she is a major champion after she and doubles partner Katerina Siniakova won the Wimbledon Ladies’ Doubles Championship.
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The No. 4 seeds Townsend and Siniakova of the Czech Republic defeated the No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-5(5), 7-6(1) under the lights of Centre Court.
For the 28-year-old Townsend, she can finally celebrate a major title after having been oh so close in several major finals over the years.
For Siniakova, age 28, it’s her ninth career major doubles title, and third Wimbledon doubles title.
The victory is extra special for Siniakova as she achieved it the same day as her frequent doubles partner, Barbora Krejcikova won her first ever Wimbledon singles title earlier in the day over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
Townsend and Siniakova earned impressive victories during the fortnight, including upsetting No. 1 seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens in the semifinals, handing Hsieh her first doubles loss at Wimbledon since 2019.
The pairing of Townsend and Siniakova happened in a very modern way - through social media. Townsend, in an interview with Tennis Channel, spilled the beans that she had planned to play the tournament with Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Haddad Maia was playing with Storm Sanders before the American tore her Achilles in an event prior to Wimbledon. After she learned the news, Townsend just happened to check her social media.
“I looked on Instagram and had a DM from Kat (Siniakova), and (she said) I don’t know if you saw what happened, but do you want to play? (Laughs) And I felt so terrible because I’ve never done that before. Because I had agreed to play with Beatriz the whole year, try to make the end of year championships. But I knew that Kat was such a great player, and I’ve played against her in several major finals, and I knew it would be a great pairing, so I felt so bad, but I got to do what I go to do, so here we are.”
During the trophy ceremony, Townsend added on the partnership, “I’m so glad Katerina slid in my DMs. It was an unconventional way that we got together but I’m so fortunate that we’re able to team up. She’s amazing and has been on this stage many times before. In my first Grand Slam final she kicked my butt and it stung so I’m really glad we’re on the same side of the net.”
For Siniakova, it was a special day after watching her friend Krejcikova win the singles title earlier.
“I’m so proud of Barbora,” Siniakova said, ”I’m happy that we could do it as well. I’m really proud that I’m from Czech Republic. We have so many players, and good players, so I’m just really happy that this day was amazing (for us)."
Siniakova earlier this spring won the Roland Garros women’s doubles title with Coco Gauff.
For Routliffe, there’s some consolation as she will now rise to WTA No. 1 in doubles next week.
Photo Credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images