They came to Australia to score aces, but U.S. tennis players instead found themselves serving defensive lobs when questioned about the Trump administration and U.S. politics.
Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Taylor Fritz were all quizzed on politics during their Australian Open press conferences.
But most of the athletes deflected or expressed fatigue towards the questions put forward, largely by freelance reporter Owen Lewis, who has written for The New York Times’ and The Guardian.
Taylor Fritz is the world’s number nine men’s singles player, one of the top male players in the Australian Open and is set for a match with veteran Swiss Stan Wawrinka later in the Open.
But after defeating Czech player Vit Kopriva in straight sets in the first round, Lewis said he’d been “asking all the American players this,” and put forward his query on U.S. politics.
Fritz expressed caution and how he could be quoted out of context.
“I’m not sure what we’re specifically talking about but there is a lot going on in the U.S. and I don’t know, I feel like whatever I say here is going to get put in a headline and it’s going to get taken out of context so I’d really rather not do something that’s going to cause a big distraction for me in the middle of a tournament,” he said.
Former world number one in doubles and number three in singles Jessica Pegula said she didn’t want to dabble into politics, noting it was a big topic even down under.
“It’s a tough question, I feel I don’t like to dabble too much into politics just because it’s not the space that I really want to say that much on.
“I just hope that everybody can at some point come together and work together as far as situations whether it’s political or not political in our country, I feel like we have a big country where there’s a lot of media attention on us too, and that’s tough because things definitely make their way around the world and even me being in Australia you hear about all these things going on back home.
“I just hope that we can come together at some point with a good dialogue where things can actually get accomplished … and it not be so divisive.”
Rising star Amanda Anisimova said the question didn’t seem to fit with the event.
“I was born in America so I’m always proud to represent my country. A lot of us are doing really well. It’s great to see a lot of great athletes on the women’s side, on the men’s side so I feel like we’re all doing a great job representing ourselves,”
When asked if U.S. politics complicated the feeling, Anisimova said: “I don’t think that’s relevant.”
Some players, however, did give more of a response.
Madison Keys, known for her aggressive ground strokes on the court, said she was hopeful the U.S. would “come together and get back to the values that I think make our country great.”
“I am not a fan of divisiveness,” she said. “We are a home of immigrants and I hope we can get back to those values.”
Coco Gauff, who in 2019 defeated Venus Williams as a 15-year-old at Wimbledon, said it was “hard being a black woman” in the United States.
Fans Prefer Neutrality
In 2025, the University of Texas Center for Sports Communication and Media released a report into politics in sports.
The study found that fans overwhelmingly are not in favour of athletes, teams, or leagues speaking on political issues.
More than 75 percent of participants said athletes should not share their personal political beliefs.
“Overall, results signal a strong shift in sports fans’ desiring athletes not to bring their political beliefs into their sport,” the report states.
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