World No.1 Taylor Townsend under fire for China comments: ‘These people’

US tennis star Taylor Townsend has apologised after coming under fire for commenting on Chinese people and cuisine while in the country for the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

The 29-year-old shared videos from Shenzhen on Instagram, saying the buffet was “the craziest thing I’ve ever seen... and people eating this”.

“Imma have to talk to HR.. because what the hell.. turtle and bullfrog is WILD,” the doubles world No.1 wrote.

Townsend said later: “As I go back and I look... these people are literally killing frogs... bullfrogs. Aren’t those poisonous?”

“Aren’t those the ones that be giving you warts and boils and stuff? And turtles? And the fact that it’s all stewed up with chillies and peppers and onions.

“Like oh, you really made this a dish and then you’ve got the (sea) cucumbers just staring down with the noodles. The only thing we had. All in all I’d give this like a solid two out of 10 so far, because this is crazy.”

She was criticised widely on social media, and within hours issued a swift statement.

“I just wanted to come here and apologise sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” Townsend said in a separate video from her hotel room.

“I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences, which is one of the things I love so much about what I do.

“And I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here, and the tournament and everyone has been so kind and so gracious. The things that I said were not representative of that at all and I just truly wanted to apologise.

“There’s no excuse, there’s no words and for me I just — I will be better. I’m really thankful to my country to be able to represent them and to be better, and that’s all that I can do. I just truly apologise.”

Townsend and the US team are due to face Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals on Thursday before the semi-finals and final take place over the weekend.

China were knocked out by Italy in the first quarter-finals tie of the event overnight.

Townsend’s controversy comes just weeks after she was involved in a heated exchange at the US Open, prompting an apology from rival Jelena Ostapenko.

Ostapenko reacted furiously to losing, jabbing her finger in Townsend’s face and accusing her of having “no education” and “no class”.

The source of Ostapenko’s ire was Townsend’s failure to apologise for a net cord but her language led to claims of racism, with Naomi Osaka saying the education comment was “one of the worst things you can say to a black tennis player in a majority white sport”.

Ostapenko, 28, denied being racist while defending her actions.

“I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said during my second-round singles match,” the French Open champion wrote.

“English is not my native language so when I said education, I was speaking only about what I believe as tennis etiquette, but I understand how the words I used could have offended many people beyond the tennis court.

“I appreciate the support as I continue to learn and grow as a person and a tennis player. Goodbye New York and I look forward to being back next year.”

Townsend revealed after a later doubles win that she had not personally spoken to Ostapenko but welcomed the public apology.

“That’s nice that she did that, that she apologised,” Townsend said.

“That’s fine. That’s cool. At the end of the day, I think that it’s a learning lesson for her.

“Like I said when everything first happened, you cannot push your expectations on other people. That’s ultimately what happened. She expected for me to react a certain type of way, and I didn’t, and it infuriated her.

“Which led her to say things that are hurtful, that are belligerent, that are offensive, not only to me, but to the sport and to a whole culture of people that I try to do my best to represent the best that I can.

“I really hope from this she can take that, hey, you can’t control people and it’s better just to focus on yourself.”

Townsend, an Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles champion, went on to reach the fourth round in singles before making the doubles final.