American tennis stars Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula took issue with artwork from the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) that depicted the seeded U.S. stars in the Australian Open.
The USTA depicted the top seeds for the U.S. as “Wild Thornberrys” characters, and Gauff blasted the depictions in a post on her Instagram Stories. The post and the USTA’s artwork were both later deleted.
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Coco Gauff during a press conference ahead of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
“Worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Gauff wrote. “Like a caricatures artist just 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.”
Gauff added that she would’ve liked to have been drawn as a “Bratz” character instead, according to ESPN.
Pegula wrote on X, “We are ugly af.”
NEW MOMS NAOMI OSAKA, ANGELIQUE KERBER, CAROLINE WOZNIACKI READY TO COMPETE AT THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Jessica Pegula hits a return shot to Ajla Tomljanovic during the United Cup in Perth, Australia, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Trevor Collens)
The Australian Open kicks off the Grand Slam season in tennis. The men’s and women’s tournaments begin on Sunday and run through Jan. 28.
Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda are the Americans seeded on the men’s side. Gauff, Pegula and Emma Navarro are the seeded Americans on the women’s side.
Gauff finished in the fourth round of the Australian Open last season. She lost to Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets. Pegula has reached the quarterfinals in each of the last three tournaments.
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This year, Gauff takes on Slovakian Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the first round. Pegula faces Canadian Rebecca Marino.
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