American tennis star Taylor Townsend posted an apology video on social media after she faced fierce backlash over her comments criticizing the cuisine inChina ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen.In a video posted on her Instagram Stories Tuesday, thetop-ranked doubles player addressed the controversy, which began when she made disparaging remarks about a dinner buffet in a series of earlier posts on the social media platform."I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart. 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," she began.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM"I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here, and the tournament and everyone has been so kind and so gracious, and things that I said were not representative of that at all, and I just truly wanted to apologize."Theres no excuse, theres no words, and for me I will be better," she continued. "Im really, really thankful to my country to be able to represent them and to be better, and thats all that I can do. So, I just truly apologize."Townsend, 29, posted videos of local dishes including bullfrogs and turtles and joked she would need to "talk to HR" about the quality of the food.RUSSIAN TENNIS STAR ANNA KALINSKAYA NAME DROPS PLAYER WHO MESSAGED HER '10 TIMES' FOR DATETownsend is the No. 1 ranked doubles player and has won two Grand Slam titles in doubles, at theAustralian Open in January and at Wimbledon in 2024.In 2021, wrestler and actorJohn Cena issued a similar apology after he faced criticism in China for calling Taiwan a country while promoting a film on a Taiwanese broadcaster.His comments sparked an immediate backlash in China, prompting him to take to the Chinese social media site Weibo and issue an apology in Mandarin. He then shared the same video onX (formerly Twitter).Townsend is in China for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen. The U.S. is scheduled to play Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals on Thursday.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Follow Fox News Digitals sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.