Coco Gauff reiterates USTA image of US players made them look “awful”

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff says a USTA social media post meant to promote American players at the Australian Open had made them look "awful."

Gauff initially responded to the post, which has since been deleted by the USTA, the ruling body for tennis in the U.S., in an Instagram story, saying: "Worst thing I've ever seen. Like a caricature artist decided to make (us) all look like hideous looking people. The art style is cool for a cartoon show but not for a hype post. Foul."

On Monday, after advancing to the second round at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, the 19-year-old Gauff said her initial posts were meant to be funny, not serious, but she reiterated that the image, which was in the style of the Wild Thornberrys cartoon, had made all the Americans look bad.

"People thought I was being serious, that I was actually mad with it," she said. "And I realize TikTok humor is very different than Twitter. I was like, no, I wasn't mad. We looked awful (smiling)."

Gauff said fellow American player Ben Shelton had posted first about the story, then Jessica Pegula got involved, texting her about it. "We were just laughing at each person, we were laughing at Sebi (Korda)'s, I think Ben and Sebi had the worst ones.

"I know it was from a cartoon, and the artist did great with the cartoon. I just don't know if I want myself drawn as that art style ...but we did not look good at all."

Gauff said she had been sitting in her room all day on Sunday so had ample time to comment on the USTA post.

"I was just bored and commenting and making fun of it, because everybody else was making fun of us, how bad we looked," she said. "Then, yeah, I saw on Twitter people thought I was serious, but I wasn't. It was all in jokes."

Gauff said she tried to contact the USTA but received no response.

"I did DM the USTA account and I was, like, what was the thought process behind this, as a joke," she said. "They never responded. I got left on read by USTA, which sucks. But, you know, it is what it is."