- Coco Gauff said she 'wasn't mad' about a viral cartoon posted by the United States Tennis Association.
- The cartoon depicted Gauff and other American players in the style of 'The Wild Thornberrys.'
Coco Gauff clarified she "wasn't mad" about a cartoon posted by the United States Tennis Association. The cartoon and Gauff's reaction went viral overnight after she called the cartoon "hideous."
In a cartoon posted on Sunday ahead of the Australian Open, the USTA depicted Gauff and other American tennis players as characters from the animated show "The Wild Thornberrys." Gauff called the cartoon "foul" and the "worst thing" she had "ever seen" on an Instagram story. The USTA deleted the post shortly after.
Oh Coco did not like this usta cartoon post loool pic.twitter.com/k3jEdmtw6m
— Melanie Lautrup (@melanie_lautrup) January 14, 2024
But in a Monday night news conference, Gauff said her reaction to her comments was exaggerated.
"People thought I was being serious, that I was actually mad with it, and I realized TikTok humor is very different than Twitter," the athlete said.
"I wasn't mad. I mean, we looked awful," Gauff said, adding that she and the other athletes in the cartoon, including Jess Pegula, Ben Shelton, and Sebastian Korda, had laughed about the cartoon.
The athlete said she'd prefer to be drawn in the style of Bratz dolls because "they look good," and joked that the USTA "should've posted this on April Fool's Day."
At the beginning of the news conference, Gauff also mentioned Serena Williams, who the 19-year-old tennis star has long said was her inspiration. As a Black woman in a predominantly white sport, Williams was the subject of racist tropes and cartoons.
Gauff said she sent a direct message to the USTA jokingly asking what the thought process behind the cartoon was, but the organization never responded.
"I got left on read by the USTA, which sucks. But, you know, it is what it is," Gauff said.