Marta Kostyuk’s husband’s ‘disgusting’ hat controversy rocks Aussie Open

A hat worn by the husband of a star player at the Australian Open has caused outrage with the message falling flat with fans.

Coco Gauff got the last laugh against Marta Kostyuk and her husband.

The hat worn by the husband of Ukrainian star Marta Kostyuk during her quarter-final loss to Coco Gauff on Tuesday has caused outrage.

Kostyuk’s husband Heorhii wore an unexplained snap back cap that included the term “shake your cocos” and a picture of a coconut split into two pieces.

Gauff, who won dour the encounter 7-6 6-7 6-2 to secure a semi-final berth against No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, responded on Instagram on Tuesday night with a sledge of her own.

The American shared a video of her win on match point on her Instagram stories and included a caption of “shakey shake”.

Fans on social media described the message on the hat as “offensive”, “distasteful” and “disgusting” with some suggesting the caption could have been viewed by some as making a comment about Gauff’s race and ethnicity.

Another fan said the hat undermined all the good work Kostyuk had been doing as an ambassador for Ukraine, saying: “Her husband just let her down and cheapened it all with this hat.”

The motivation behind the hat has not been made public.

Coco Gauff got the last laugh against Marta Kostyuk and her husband.

Kostyuk has been outspoken against Russian players playing at the Australian Open, having been a staunch critic of the ongoing war and Russian invasion.

She also refuses to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian athletes, and has for some time, even copping boos for it at last years’ French Open.

Russian and Belarusian players at the Australian Open are playing as neutral athletes with their flags being replaced by dark blue squares on broadcasts over their involvement in the war.

Kostyuk took aim at the US Open that used the Russian flag in a social media post after she defeated Russia’s Maria Timofeeva.

“The sports world continues to promote a murderous country and a country that uses its athletes as part of its propaganda,” Kostyuk wrote.

“I call on media representatives, officials and the sports community to stop using the tennis court to promote ‘Russian peace’.

This was the deepest run the 21-year-old has had at a grand slam. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

After being knocked out by the teenage Gauff, the 21-year-old Ukrainian revealed the ordeal her friends and family had been going through just to watch her play at the Australian Open.

“I was texting with some people from Kyiv. I said, ‘how is it? how are you guys?’ They said, ‘well, we were looking between your score and where the missiles are flying’,” she said in a press conference after her loss against Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old explained her parents and sister were still living there.

“Before the match I was looking at the news and I kind of guessed that most likely there would be a big missile shelling again,” she said.

“And when I walked off the court, I look at this news again, I don’t know how many missiles yet. It’s still too fresh.”

Originally published as Marta Kostyuk’s husband’s ‘disgusting’ hat controversy rocks Aussie Open