- Signing the camera lens and adding a message or doodle is a tradition for Australian Open match winners.
- American tennis stars have used the moment to sketch locks, indicating that they're "locked in."
American tennis stars are locked in for the 2023 Australian Open.
The four players who headlined the United States' victory at the inaugural United Cup — Jessica Pegula, Frances Tiafoe, Madison Keys, and Taylor Fritz — have comfortably advanced past the opening round of the year's first Grand Slam. And while signing the camera lens following each of their respective victories — as has long been a tradition among match winners in Melbourne — the American quartet sketched locks to indicate that they are, in fact, "locked in."
Well, they all tried to, at least.
After beating Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in four sets to kick off his Australian Open run, world No. 9 Taylor Fritz stepped to the camera ready to follow through on the plan he'd made with his compatriots. And while his intentions were good, the 25-year-old's execution left much to be desired.
His "lock" didn't look like a lock at all. Let's just say the drawing resembled something far more suggestive.
Fans watching the match on TV or staying tuned on social media were quick to draw comparisons between Fritz's doodle and a certain not-safe-for-work symbol you might find scrawled onto the walls of a public restroom. But the hard-hitter was quick to set the record straight; he took to Twitter the day after the match to explain that he "was trying to draw a [lock] emoji...."
"I just forgot the very important fact that I suck at drawing," Fritz added.
—Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) January 17, 2023
Pegula, Tiafoe, and Keys each had much better luck with their drawings:
—Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) January 18, 2023
Tiafoe — who famously took down Rafael Nadal en route to the US Open semifinals last fall — told reporters that the locked expression "became a thing" among Team USA players as they worked their way toward hoisting the United Cup trophy earlier in the month.
"It is a Team USA thing," Keys said during her post-match press conference. "Unfortunately, Taylor's was just so bad."
"I guess for whatever reason today we decided that we would all lean in and try to explain what Taylor was trying to do for him," she added. "It's just us being dumb."