Townsend turned professional by the end of 2012 and in 2014, she broke through on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour after winning two titles.

Known as one of the WTA Tour's few players to frequently employ serve-and-volley tactics in her gameplay,[1] Townsend has also won numerous career doubles titles.

She first entered the top 100 in doubles in 2016, after winning eight of ten finals reached on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour that year.

Townsend's mother is a close friend of Donald Young Sr., as they grew up together on the South Side of Chicago, where they trained at the same tennis center.

When the USTA decided not to fund Townsend's expenses to compete at the 2012 US Open, Murray and XS Tennis organized a fundraiser to cover nearly $1000 of the cost of the trip.

[2] She continued to play on the junior tour in 2013 and reached another Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon, this time losing to Belinda Bencic.

[9][11][12] Townsend made her WTA Tour debut in singles at the Indian Wells Open where she defeated Lucie Hradecká for her first tour-level match win.

In back-to-back weeks in the spring, Townsend played at two clay-court events on the USTA pro circuit at Charlottesville and Indian Harbour Beach.

With this success, she won the USTA wild card entry into the French Open,[13] where Townsend made her major singles debut ranked No.

Townsend also received wildcards to make her main-draw debuts at the last two major events of the year, Wimbledon and the US Open, but lost in the first round at each tournament.

In February, she made her Fed Cup debut against Argentina and won her only match, a dead rubber where she was partnered with CoCo Vandeweghe.

Townsend then fell out of the top 100 in April and began to struggle with her form, winning just two matches on the ITF Circuit the rest of the year and none at the WTA Tour level.

Her decision to switch back to her childhood coach, Donald Young sr. after the 2015 French Open eventually began to pay off as she regained her form in the spring.

In the spring, Townsend had a quieter clay-court season compared to the previous year, but still won a match at the French Open yet again.

She produced another solid performance at a premier tournament in August, making it to the second round at the 2017 Cincinnati Open after needing to qualify for the main draw.

In her final tournament of the year, Townsend played in the Waco Showdown and dominated the early rounds, losing a total of just two games in her first three matches.

[17] She went one step further, defeating another Romanian, Sorana Cîrstea, to reach the fourth round for the first time in her career at a major event and as a qualifier.

At the French Open, Townsend reached the semifinals for the first time in her career at this major, with Madison Keys as a protected ranking pair on their debut.

[24] Later in May, Townsend won three matches in the qualifying to enter in the main draw of the French Open but lost to 24th seed Anastasia Potapova.

[27] At the Adelaide International, she won the doubles title with partner Beatriz Haddad Maia, defeating Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the final.

[citation needed] In the beginning of the American summer hardcourt swing, she won her seventh doubles title partnering Asia Muhammad at the Washington Open.

71 at the Canadian Open, she entered as a lucky loser and reached the quarterfinals for the first time at the WTA 1000 level and for the first time at a WTA Tour event in her career as well, upsetting 16th seed Dayana Yastremska by retirement, local wildcard Marina Stakusic and fourth seed Jeļena Ostapenko, the third biggest win in her career.

Among players with three matches won to reach the quarterfinals at the tournament, only Caroline Wozniacki in 2014 (6) dropped fewer games than Townsend in 2024 (9) en route, in the Open Era.

[citation needed] Partnering Donald Young, she reached the mixed doubles final at the US Open, losing in straight sets to Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.

[43] Alongside Kateřina Siniaková, Townsend qualified for the WTA Finals and reached the semifinals after going unbeaten in the group stages.

[46] Partnering Kateřina Siniaková, Townsend claimed her second major doubles title by winning the Australian Open, defeating Hsieh Su-wei and Jeļena Ostapenko in the final.

1 seed headed into WTT Playoffs, but ultimately fell to the New York Empire, who would continue on to win the Championship, in the semifinal.

[12] Sports Illustrated wrote, "Instead of helping a promising young talent gain that confidence and experience gleaned from competing, the USTA has taken a paternalistic tack, deeming itself the arbiter and architect behind Townsend's past, present and future success.

"[9] The USTA at first refused to pay for Townsend's expenses,[11] so she paid to enter the tournament and was defeated in the quarterfinals by Anett Kontaveit, in straight sets.

[53][54] Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments and Billie Jean King Cup are included in win–loss records.