A day after Coco Gauff reacted to a cartoon graphic depicting the seeded American players at the Australian Open, she came forward to clarify her comment.
Being one of the world's top-ranked players and with a massive social media following, it is only logical that every statement or word you put out on the internet will face immense scrutiny.
Recently, the USTA, the national governing body of tennis in the USA, shared a caricature of the eight American seeds at the first Grand Slam of 2024. Gauff, who is the highest-ranked American player in the draw, branded the art as the "worst thing" she had ever seen.
Gauff felt that the art style was "cool" but was not fond of the drawing, particularly of herself. Upon seeing her fans' comments on TikTok, Gauff discovered that people thought she was agitated about the drawing.
After opening her Australian Open account with a breathtaking performance in beating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Gauff clarified that she was not incensed as the comment she sent alleged, but felt that the graphic was extremely funny.
Gauff also added that she had spoken to her fellow compatriots who shared similar sentiments, with ATP rising star Ben Shelton also among those who reacted to the cartoon depiction.
"Oh, people thought I was being serious, that I was actually mad with it. And I realize TikTok humor is very different than Twitter. I saw somebody posted, like, There's no way she's that she's that person. I was like, no, I wasn't mad. We looked awful (smiling)."
"And actually, I saw Ben 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, like, laughing at each person, we were laughing at Sebi's, I think Ben and Sebi had the worst ones."
"I know it was from a cartoon, and the artist, like, did great with the cartoon. I just don't know if I want myself drawn as that art style. I said I would prefer, like, Brad's because they look good and they are fashion and everything. But we did not look good at all (smiling)."
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