A Large Serving of Crow for the USTA

Growltiger's human attendants watch a lot of professional tennis on television which can be hard on the cool cat's nerves when the ladies are playing. The men grunt when they hit the ball, but most of the women let out a shriek like they're being gutted on the Streets of London (reference). If two shriekers are playing, the decibel level is probably somewhere around the noise level of the Concorde breaking the sound barrier.

Madam X  doesn't watch ladies tennis, but Dr. X has a higher tolerance level for ear-splitting screams. That or he's harder of hearing.

Growltiger has watched a lot of tennis over the years, and she prefers to watch a strong, baseliner with a two handed backhand who plays a power game which is the game most of the shriekers play. So imagine the cool kitty's surprise when a player she'd never seen before came out onto the court, played the serve and volley game Growltiger doesn't like to watch and Growltiger found herself rooting for her as she defeated Number Four seed, Simona Halep. 

At first, Growltiger was skeptical.  Taylor Townsend doesn't look like the usual female tennis player. She is overweight, didn't have long, stringy hair braided in a pony tail or plopped atop her head like a cow pie (Halep) and most unusually, wasn't dressed in tennis clothes. Instead, she wore baggy, ill-fitting, dark shorts with no logo on them and a loud, lime green Nike top. (Probably an indication Townsend is not ranked high enough to warrant a clothing contract).  But not having a clothing contract isn't the half of it.

As USA Today put  it, few tennis players have suffered the ups and downs Ms. Townsend has (reference). Growltiger would put it another way. Few players have been rooked by the their own Tennis Associations as badly as Ms. Townsend. 

In 2012, Ms. Townsend was the Number One junior women's player in the world, the first American to achieve that ranking in three decades. She won the junior singles and doubles titles in Australia, and the doubles titles at  Wimbledon and the US Open. But USA Today (reference) reports the United States Tennis Association (USTA) had "concerns" that Townsend’s "fitness" was an issue. (Her fitness) "was not where it needed to be to compete at the highest levels going forward". So out of concern for her "fitness" player-development executives, headed by then-general manager, Patrick McEnroe, "withheld funding for her to travel to such competitions as the U.S. 18’s nationals and the US Open."  Let me reword that for you, dear kittens. The USTA considered Ms. Townsend too fat so they wouldn't pay for her to travel to tournaments. What with the cost of airline travel, food and housing, that was tantamount to abandoning the number one junior female tennis player in the world.   

Their concern, Mr. McEnroe claimed at the time, "was for her long-term health...and her long-term development as a player." Yeah. Right. And President Trump has just named Growltiger as commander of the new Space Force.  

Quoting US Today, "Townsend had to come up with her own funds to travel, but the money was much less of an issue than the stigma that came with the  (USTA) decision". Keep in mind, dear kittens, Ms. Townsend was a teenager when the USTA basically called her a fatso and refused to provide funding for her to compete. If that wouldn't wallop a teenager's confidence, nothing would.

According to the USA Today article, the USTA later reversed itself and reimbursed Ms. Townsend for the funds, but the damage had been done. Townsend won only four matches in 2015 and considered quitting tennis. 

During this week's U. S. Open, all the sports hype was directed at fifteen-year-old Coco Gauff while Ms. Townsend quietly struggled through what is known as the "qualifiers" which essentially means she had to play a tournament before she was allowed to enter the Open. No wild card offered to this once top ranked junior women's player in the world.  

Through it all, Ms. Townsend remained gracious in winning and in her eventual loss last night to 15th seeded Bianca Andreescu (Canada). One cannot help but wonder where Ms. Townsend might be had not the USTA decided she was too fat for prime time.  At any rate, with Ms. Townsend no longer in the tournament, the ladies game can go back to being the loud, resounding, ear-splitting bore it was before Ms. Townsend appeared on the scene.

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References:
London Knife Murders: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8104412/london-stabbings-2019-knife-crime-statistics/

Townsend's Ups and Downs: 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2019/09/02/2019-us-open-taylor-townsend-overcame-lot-haters-break-through/2192543001/