Taylor Townsend, a 23-year-old American qualifier at the US Open who’s ranked 116th in the world, pulled off the biggest victory of her career on Thursday when she beat No. 4 seed Simone Halep, a two-time major champion, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Townsend was near tears following the win, saying she’s been through a lot in her career and on this day she decided she was not going to hold anything back and go for it.
She talked about how she decided to play to win after the tough first round and told herself: “F’ it. I don’t think I can really say what was going on in my head, just because of TV. I just told myself it’s an opportunity and it’s a chance and go for it – you have nothing to lose.”
Here’s her great interview:
And what a great lesson we can all take from that. Sometimes in life it’s easy to be on the defensive and not get your best results.
Sometimes you just have to say “F it” and go for it.
That’s what Taylor Townsend and now she’s on to the third round of the US Open.
