Australian Open 2024: Coco Gauff addresses criticism of deleted USTA cartoon

Teenage star Coco Gauff made her feelings well clear on social media about a since-deleted cartoon from the USTA, with the American speaking on the matter after her win in Melbourne.

Teenage star Coco Gauff claimed she was having a joke when she labelled a since-deleted cartoon media post from the USTA to promote American players at this year’s Australian Open as “hideous”.

The cartoon post, drawn in the style of the 1990s Nickelodeon show the Wild Thornberrys, showed American stars such as Gauff and world No. 5 Jessica Pegula and men’s stars Sebastian Korda, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton in the Australian outback.

The finale of the show’s final season aired in June, 2004 - just months after 19-year-old Gauff was born.

Gauff hit out at the cartoon.

World No. 4 Gauff indicated she was not a fan of the caricature style, describing it as the “worst thing I’ve ever seen” in an Instagram story.

“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,” she wrote.

Gauff later added on Twitter the post made the players “all look so ugly”.

While criticism of the post led to it being deleted, Gauff later clarified that she had been making fun of the situation when asked about it after her first-round win.

Gauff said she had been sharing a joke with the other American players about the cartoon, but her “joke” message to the USTA about it was not responded to.

“People thought I was being serious, that I was actually mad with it,” the US Open champion said after her straight sets win on Rod Laver Arena.

“I wasn’t mad. We looked awful. I saw Ben’s post first on his story. Then I DM’d Ben immediately and I was like ‘What is this?’ Then Jess started texting me. We were just laughing at each person …. I think Ben and Sebi had the worst ones.

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

“Usually the USTA always does the … hype posts before the slams. I was like they should have posted this on April fool’s Day or something.

“I was just bored and commenting and making fun of it because everybody else was making fun of us (for) how bad we looked.

“Then I saw on Twitter people thought I was serious, but I wasn’t. It was all in jokes. I did DM the USTA account and I was like what was the thought process behind this as a joke. They never responded. I got left on read by USTA, which sucks.

“Shout out to, I think the Wild Thornberrys is the cartoon … for making us look funny.”

Gauff walked back her criticism after her first round win. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

While her reaction to a carton post grabbed headlines, Gauff made light work of her opening round clash when she cruised to a 6-3 6-0 win over Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in an hour.

The No. 4 seed at Melbourne Park, Gauff will face fellow American Caroline Dolehide in the second round.

The Australian Open is Gauff’s first major since she won her first grand slam at Flushing Meadows last year.

“I was a little bit nervous coming in today. Probably could tell. I was able to just calm down and then play my good, not my best, but good tennis from that point,” Gauff said.