Coco Gauff said she ‘wasn’t mad’ about viral cartoon, but got ‘left on read’ by the USTA
Coco Gauff clarified she “wasn’t mad” about a cartoon posted by the United States Tennis Association. The cartoon and Gauff’s reaction went viral overnight after she called the cartoon “hideous.”
- Coco Gauff said she ‘wasn’t mad’ about a viral cartoon posted by the United States Tennis Association.
- The cartoon depicted Gauff and other American players in the style of ‘The Wild Thornberrys.’
- Gauff said she jokingly DM’d the USTA but was ‘left on read’ when it didn’t respond.
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In a cartoon posted on Sunday ahead of the Australian Open, the USTA depicted Gauff and other American tennis players as characters from the animated show “The Wild Thornberrys.” Gauff called the cartoon “foul” and the “worst thing” she had “ever seen” on an Instagram story. The USTA deleted the post shortly after.
Oh Coco did not like this usta cartoon post loool pic.twitter.com/k3jEdmtw6m
— Melanie Lautrup (@melanie_lautrup) January 14, 2024
But in a Monday night news conference, Gauff said her reaction to her comments was exaggerated.
“People thought I was being serious, that I was actually mad with it, and I realized TikTok humor is very different than Twitter,” the athlete said.
“I wasn’t mad. I mean, we looked awful,” Gauff said, adding that she and the other athletes in the cartoon, including Jess Pegula, Ben Shelton, and Sebastian Korda, had laughed about the cartoon.
The athlete said she’d prefer to be drawn in the style of Bratz dolls because “they look good,” and joked that the USTA “should’ve posted this on April Fool’s Day.”
At the beginning of the news conference, Gauff also mentioned Serena Williams, who the 19-year-old tennis star has long said was her inspiration. As a Black woman in a predominantly white sport, Williams was the subject of racist tropes and cartoons.
Gauff said she sent a direct message to the USTA jokingly asking what the thought process behind the cartoon was, but the organization never responded.
“I got left on read by the USTA, which sucks. But, you know, it is what it is,” Gauff said.
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Coco Gauff cruises through Australian Open first round
Coco Gauff sailed through her first-round match, securing a decisive victory against unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
USA’s Coco Gauff hits a return to Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova during the US Open tennis tournament women’s singles semi-finals match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on September 7, 2023. (Photo by kena betancur / AFP)
Coco Gauff eased into the second round of the Australian Open on Monday, beating unseeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-0 in a one-sided affair on centre court.
The American, bidding to become the first woman since Naomi Osaka in 2018-19 to win the US Open and Australian Open back-to-back, made a nervy start.
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GAUFF
But she still had too much for her struggling Slovakian opponent, who failed to win any of her seven service games.
Fourth seed Gauff broke Schmiedlova, ranked 68, four times in the opening set with two holds proving decisive for the 19-year-old, who defended her Auckland title earlier this month.
ALSO READ: Coco Gauff triumphs in gruelling three-set battle
She found more of a rhythm in the second set, taking it 6-0 in just 25 minutes on a sun-baked Rod Laver Arena.
“I was a little nervous in the first set and I think I did well returning and then I found my serve towards the end (of the set),” she said.
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The teenager said she was always nervous in the first round of a major, adding that she had to give herself a talking to on court.
She said she told herself: “‘I feel good, I look good so just have fun.’ I was able to relax.”
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Gauff will play unseeded American Caroline Dolehide in the second round.
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