World No.4 Coco Gauff has blown up on social media at the US Tennis Association over a cartoon they posted to social media to promote US stars at the Australian Open.
The cartoon presented a host of seeded US players in the style of the 1990s Nickelodeon show the Wild Thornberrys, depicting them in the Aussie outback.
But 19-year-old Gauff wasn’t pleased with the caricatures.
“Worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Gauff said 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.”
The image was quickly taken down.
“Y’all I know it is a cartoon show but I think I would prefer to be drawn as a Bratz art style and not this. This is makes us all look so ugly,” Gauff added.
World number five Jessica Pegula, Gauff’s doubles partner, agreed: “Hahahahhaha we are ugly af,” she wrote in reply to Gauff.
But after receiving plenty of criticism on social media, Gauff clarified that she wasn’t too upset after all.
“[I wrote about the image because] I was bored in my hotel room … tennis twitter is funny but ruthless haha omg.”
Reigning US Open champion Gauff faces Anna Karolina Schmiedlova first up on Rod Laver Arena (midday).
WILD START AS 11 AUSSIES BIDDING FOR GLORY
In one of the biggest days for locals at the Australian Open in recent memory, a whopping 11 Aussies get their tournament underway on day two at Melbourne Park. Follow live below!
The only seeded local, world No.10 Alex de Minaur, headlines the night session against the powerful former world No.3 and semi-finalist Milos Raonic.
And at least two Aussies are guaranteed to advance, because they’re playing a compatriot – with Alexei Popyrin battling Marc Polmans, plus Aleksandar Vukic facing Jordan Thompson, both in the afternoon.
18-year-old Taylah Preston enjoyed a dream start when she broke 19th-seed Elina Svitolina to love in the opening game of their first-round match.
Svitolina, a former world number three and three-time Slam semi-finalist, is competing in her 40th Grand Slam main draw, while it’s a first Slam main draw for the Aussie young gun who was handed a wildcard.
But Preston was immediately broken back to love, before the pair traded two more breaks.
Any hope of a staggering upset – and a first-ever win for the teen Aussie over a top-50 player – quickly faded, as Svitolina raced away to a 6-2 6-2 win in just 59 minutes.
Ukrainian Svitolina is a popular figure on tour – alongside husband Gael Monfils – after an impressive 2023 campaign where she returned after giving birth to daughter Skai. She is one of eight mothers competing in the women’s singles main draw this tournament.
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Former world No.20 Daria Saville, reigning Australian Open doubles champion Rinky Hijikata and doubles world No.1 Storm Hunter are among the top chances to advance into the second round.
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DAY 2 ORDER OF PLAY (Show courts + Aussies in action)
Day session from 12pm AEDT, night session from 7pm AEDT, unless listed
ROD LAVER ARENA
Day session
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK) vs No.4 Coco Gauff (USA)
Zizou Bergs (BEL) vs No.7 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)
Night session
No.10 Alex de Minaur (AUS) vs Milos Raonic (CAN)
No.16 Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs Naomi Osaka (JPN)
MARGARET COURT ARENA
Day session
Terence Atmane (FRA) vs No.3 Daniil Medvedev (RUS)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) vs No.21 Donna Vekic (CRO)
Night session
No.6 Ons Jabeur (TUN) vs Yuliia Starodubtseva (UKR)
No.27 Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) vs Dominic Thiem (AUT)
JOHN CAIN ARENA (from 11am)
Dayana Yastremska (UKR) vs No.7 Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs Marc Polmans (AUS)
Magdalena Frech (POL) vs Daria Saville (AUS)
Not before 5pm: Omar Jasika (AUS) vs No.9 Hubert Hurkacz (POL)
AUSSIES IN ACTION
Kia Arena, from 11am: Storm Hunter (AUS) vs Sara Errani (ITA)
1573 Arena, from 11am: No.19 Elina Svitolina (UKR) vs Taylah Preston (AUS)
Court 3, Match 3: Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) vs Jordan Thompson (AUS)
Court 3, Match 4: Rinky Hijikata (AUS) vs No.24 Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
Court 6, Match 2: James Duckworth (AUS) vs Luca Van Assche (FRA)
Novak on new rule: ‘It distracts you’ | 01:24
DJOKER’S X-RATED SPRAY AFTER FAN CHANGE
Novak Djokovic has weighed in on a change at the Australian Open that appeared to spark an angry outburst from the world No.1
An error-strewn Djokovic kickstarted his bid for an 11th Australian Open and unprecedented 25th Grand Slam crown in unconvincing fashion on Sunday, dropping a set to “incredible” teenage qualifier Dino Prizmic.
The Serbian superstar struggled to impose himself against the confident Croat on Rod Laver Arena before finally taming the 18-year-old 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 after a four-hour marathon.
One moment during the second set showed the pressure Djokovic was under.
A 2-2 in a second set tiebreaker he raged at a fan making noise during the point, yelling “shut the f*** up!”.
It followed a move by Australian Open organisers to allow fans to move around in the stadium during games. Previously fans were only allowed to enter into the stadium during a changeover between games, which is the rule at other tournaments.
Djokovic, however, said he was unaware of the change.
“Look, I mean, I understand the motive behind it is to enhance and improve the experience for fans, right? We do play for fans. We want fans to have a great, thrilling experience of being out on the court,” he said in his post match press conference.
“Like Tiafoe, for example, is one of the players that was saying we should let people, like in other sports, freely walk and talk during matches.
“It’s hard, I must say. I understand that and I support it to some extent, but at the same time all my career, all my life I’ve been used to some kind of atmosphere. When that changes, it kind of messes up, distracts you a bit.
“I don’t know if it’s really the best rule, but I do understand from a tournament and fan perspective it’s probably better because they don’t want to wait. They want to come out and enjoy every single point.
“I’m kind of divided between the two in a way.”
Aussie FUMES at crucial umpire ‘mistake’ | 00:41