One US Open, two journeys—Townsend, Ahn living their best lives in NYC

With a ribbon tied in her hair and an infectious smile braces couldn’t stop from spreading joy, the outgoing, vivacious side of Taylor Townsend came into the public eye in January 2012. Her throwback, serve-and-volley style on the court, inspired by her idol, fellow left-hander Martina Navratilova, enabled Townsend to become the first American girl to finish as a year-end No. 1 junior in 30 years.

Appearing all but ready to make the leap to the professional ranks, the jubilation she effortlessly exuded was soon suppressed. Coming at her like passing shots at the net, the budding talent—yet to reach adulthood—was peppered with a wide range of criticism for her image and background. Townsend would silence detractors briefly by reaching the third round at the 2014 French Open and cracking the Top 100 seven months later. But the Chicago native soon leveled off, unable to make significant advancements at the tour stops where her biggest critics kept the disapproval coming.

Townsend defeated Yulia Putintseva to win the 2012 Australian Open girls' title, adding to her doubles trophy with Gabrielle Andrews. (Getty Images)

In 2008, when she was in high school, Kristie Ahn participated in an exclusive extracurricular activity: US Open qualifying. At 16, the Flushing Meadows native felt right at home, winning three matches, all in straight sets, to secure her first main draw berth at a Grand Slam event. Ahn would win seven games in a respectable defeat to then-French Open finalist Dinara Safina, an effort that seemingly showed an aptitude to compete at the highest level.

Ahn would later pursue the college route, attending powerhouse Stanford University alongside the likes of Nicole Gibbs. She completed four years to earn a degree in Science, Technology and Society, but then arrived at a crossroads in 2014: use her education to begin a steady career path, or, see where tennis could take her. Ahn chose to use her racquet as a moneymaker, a decision that her parents initially struggled with. All looked to finally pay off, as she peaked at No. 105 in October 2017 after winning an $80k event in Tyler, TX. Her results and ranking soon slid backwards the following season, inciting Ahn's parents to revisit their concerns, wondering when their daughter would brush up her resume for the corporate world.

Ahn in action during her 2008 Flushing Meadows encounter with Dinara Safina. (Getty Images)

The journey, or the road one travels by, is often not defined by reaching point B, but rather the events that led up to a pinnacle moment. These mile markers build character, providing lessons in dealing with regret and testing conviction on trusting the process.

For Townsend, she’s had her share of humbling experiences. Like April of 2016, when the Atlanta resident found herself facing 69-year-old Gail Falkenberg in qualifying of the ITF event in Pelham, AL. Sponsors were nowhere to be found for the once highly-touted prospect, who kept her travel expenses to a minimum by entering ITF tournaments hosted in the U.S. that could be packaged together. Over the years, keyboard warriors had no problems spreading their hate, prompting Townsend to deactivate her social media accounts for a lengthy period.

There have career-defining match opportunities along the way, too. None more so than at Wimbledon this year, when she held match point on world No. 4 Kiki Bertens in the second round. The open court was there for the taking, but Townsend opted to play a drop shot instead of driving her forehand—and found the net. The chance to seize the day was lost and she never earned another look at closing out the Dutchwoman.

After earning a match point, Townsend ultimately lost to Bertens at Wimbledon, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. (Getty Images)

Ahn, meanwhile, came into the All England Club with little confidence to draw from. In her grass-court lead up, she failed to get out of qualifying at two ITF W100 events and lost her lone main-draw appearance at the W100 tournament in Manchester. There wasn’t much reason for outsiders to believe the 191st-ranked Ahn would conquer the qualifying stages of the sport’s crown jewel.

The 27-year-old arrived to Roehampton in a sobering relationship with Grand Slam qualifying events, having been unsuccessful in all of her 12 previous attempts. In fact, Ahn reached the final round just twice, losing to Elise Mertens at the 2016 US Open and Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon a year later. In following the trajectories of Mertens and Sabalenka since those defeats, one wonders how Ahn’s footprint might have been different in June of this year had she taken one of those encounters. She would manage to end her qualifying agony, though remained winless in major main draws after falling to No. 12 seed Anastasija Sevastova.

In San Jose, Ahn qualified and advanced to the quarterfinals after upsetting Mertens. (Getty Images)

Enter the 2019 US Open. Competing under the same flag as a 23-time Grand Slam champion, the recent Cincinnati winner and 15-year-old prodigy beyond her years, it’s comprehensible that Townsend and Ahn were placed well below the radar at the start of their home major. Yet through all of the tribulations, the missed shots, the hard conversations and “what if” dear-diary entries over the past five years, their two journeys have come together as a reminder that every player on the major stage has a captivating story. It sometimes just takes one spotlight for it to be told.

Returning to the site of her major debut, Ahn found herself facing the woman who won the event 15 years ago: Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian dominated their lone previous encounter 13 months earlier, dropping three games, and was coming off a resurgent run to the Cincinnati final. Ahn was also reinvigorated, having reached the San Jose quarterfinals, and put together a strong serving display to come “full circle,” fittingly securing her first major main-draw win in the city she was born in. Safina later sent the American a congratulatory note via Instagram.

Forced to qualify after dropping out of the Top 100, Townsend earned a shot at redemption against a Top 5 player by setting a second-round clash with Simona Halep. Competing in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Townsend stayed true to her brand of tennis in a riveting clash with the Wimbledon champion. After failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third set, Townsend was a point from suffering another agonizing defeat. Instead, the 23-year-old recovered by “playing to win” and after 105 net approaches, pulled off the victory of her life.

Townsend was 0-10 against Top 10 opposition before stunning Halep in the second round. (Getty Images)

After enjoying the highs of an extraordinary day, Ahn and Townsend could have easily folded in their follow-up acts. Though, perhaps in their road to arriving at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center this year—surmounting internal doubts and external pressures at numerous mile markers along the way—it’s no surprise both have continued to live out their truths. Ahn won two more matches, against Anna Kalinskaya and Jelena Ostapenko, while Townsend eliminated another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea.

"I wouldn't change anything because I appreciate so much where I am, because I know where I came from," Townsend said Saturday. "I remember when I was grinding qualies at 25ks, when I quit tennis for three days, that's how long I lasted."

Added Ahn, "Since Wimbledon, I've been able to accumulate a lot of little life chips, like little wins. We call it stacking up the wins. Even if you lose a match, what you're able to take away, the positives, and being able to just keep that building. One day you'll be able to have little towers."

If both are able to win their fourth-round matches on Monday, the two will meet in the quarterfinals. The American dream doesn’t get much better than that.

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