Gauff takes jab at ‘hideous’ post depicting US players at Australian Open

Coco Gauff has mocked a USTA social media post depicting American players competing at the Australian Open.

The USTA posted an image of the seeded American players in Melbourne in the style of the Wild Thornberrys cartoon. The post was intended to wish the players good luck but instead drew the ire of Gauff, the reigning US Open women’s champion, and her compatriot Jessica Pegula.

“Worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Gauff said in an Instagram story on Sunday. “As if a caricature artist decided to make (us) all look like horrible-looking people. The art style is cool for a cartoon show, but not for a hype post. Crazy.”

The image has now been removed. “You guys know it’s a cartoon series, but I think I would prefer it to be drawn in the Bratz art style and not this one. It makes us all look so ugly,” the 19-year-old said. Pegula, the world number 5 and doubles partner of Gauff, agreed: “Hahahahhaha, we are ugly,” she wrote in response to Gauff.

After receiving backlash on social media, Gauff clarified that she was not fatally offended by the image. “(I wrote about the image because) I was bored in my hotel room…tennistwitter is funny but brutal haha ​​omg.”

Also pictured in the post were Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro.

Gauff, the No. 4 seed in Melbourne, opens her campaign against Anna Karolína Schmiedlová on Monday. She successfully defended her Auckland Open title last week, beating Elina Svitolina in the final.

Fritz and Tiafoe won their first round matches on the opening day in Melbourne and there were also victories for their unseeded compatriots Caroline Dolehide and Amanda Anisimova in the women’s draw.