One of the biggest tales popping out of the 2026 Australian Open is how properly the American tennis gamers are doing. Four US ladies — Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff, Iva Jovic, Jessica Pegula — are within the quarterfinals and two males — Ben Shelton and Learner Tien — additionally made the ultimate eight. (Gauff, Jovic, and Tien misplaced their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday.) Those accomplishments have led to the opposite massive American story popping out of the Aussie Open: How do US tennis gamers really feel about representing their nation at this second?
In post-match interviews, they’ve been requested, a few of them a number of instances for clarification, what it means to play beneath the American flag. Implicitly, these questions are referring to federal brokers killing American residents in Minnesota, or maybe the more and more unusual and heated threats about buying Greenland, or the navy intervention in Venezuela and threats to launch navy strikes on Iran.
Essentially, reporters are asking: Are you proud to be an American in a second and time when so many Americans aren’t?
While tennis gamers stands out as the first US athletes on a main worldwide stage this yr to cope with this consideration, they gained’t be the final. In two weeks, the Winter Olympics will start and coincide with the Super Bowl, the most-watched sporting occasion within the US. Many of these athletes will face the identical query about what elements of America they’re or aren’t celebrating.
American gamers are being requested the way it feels to be American proper now
Country illustration will be a massive deal in tennis when its governing our bodies — the ATP and WTA tour — want it to be. For instance, Russian and Belarusian tennis gamers are at the moment not allowed to characterize their international locations on tour and do not have flags subsequent to their names, a resolution made in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The intent is to characterize neutrality regardless of the international locations’ worldwide aggression towards Ukraine.
Russian and Belarusian gamers have additionally, on a number of events, been requested what their stance on the Ukraine invasion has been. Aryna Sabalenka, the present ladies’s primary who occurs to be from Belarus, has clarified her stance a number of instances. This week, after a Ukrainian participant mentioned Sabalenka and different Russian and Belarusian gamers taking part in in grand slams was “wrong,” Sabalenka advised reporters: “I’ve been clear before that I’m pro-peace. Nothing has changed. That’s all I can say about that.”
Asking tennis gamers about worldwide and private politics isn’t unusual, however these queries normally aren’t on American tennis gamers. The aforementioned political occasions unfolding stateside and internationally have modified that.
Coco Gauff, the third-ranked participant on this planet, was requested in regards to the state of the US beneath the second Trump administration and advised reporters this week, “At this point, I feel a bit fatigued talking about it, just because of the fact that it is hard being a Black woman in this country and having to experience things, even online, and seeing marginalized communities being affected.” She added, “I hope that as time continues that we can reach a state that we’re not currently in, and we keep moving forward.”
2025 champ Madison Keys was additionally requested the identical query this week, and responded equally to Gauff. “I think it’s pretty obvious where I stand, and I am hopeful that we, as a country, can come together and get back to the values that I think make our country great. I am not a fan of divisiveness, and I think the beauty of the US is we are a mixing pot, we are very diverse, we are a home of immigrants,” she advised reporters. “I hope that we can get back to those values.”
Both Gauff and Keys’s feedback have been picked up by right-wing websites and personalities, a few of whom criticized the reporter for goading anti-Trump sentiment out of the gamers.
On the opposite facet of the political spectrum, Ben Shelton endured sharp scrutiny after scribbling “USA till its backwards” on a digital camera in a post-win celebration. Critics questioned why he was seemingly celebrating his nation whereas there was violence taking place in Minnesota.
Shelton later clarified, saying that his message wasn’t meant to be political. He posted on Instagram: “Literally no underlying message with my camera sign… a lot of young Americans killing it in Australia this year. And my girlfriend played for team USA for the first time in a year this morning. Thought they deserved a shoutout.”
American gamers are discovering out representing the US is difficult proper now
Out of all of the American gamers’ feedback, it was Amanda Anisimova’s that made probably the most noise. It wasn’t due to her views, however as a result of she declined to inform reporters her particular political opinions. “I don’t think that’s relevant,” Anisimova advised the reporter who requested the identical query posed to Gauff and Keys.
Even although Anisimova tried to declare neutrality, her feedback ignited a sharp response from each political wings. Some followers criticized her and jumped to the conclusion that she was Republican. At the identical time, some Republicans assumed her allegiance and cheered her on for not taking what they noticed as anti-Trump bait.
Anisimova clarified her assertion on January 25, telling reporters that she felt just like the query was requested simply to create a spectacle and a distraction. “In my other press conference…I didn’t want to answer a question that was obviously intended for a headline and clickbait; that was my right,” she advised reporters. “It had nothing to do with my political views or anything like that. The fact that people assume that they know my stance on certain important topics is just wrong. It’s not factual. It’s tough but I’ve learned to get used to it.”
Anisimova has a level in that a transient, post-win press convention isn’t possible to be a place the place you’re going to get a critical, considerate reply from tennis gamers about politics.
Amanda Anisimova is one in every of 4 US ladies within the Australian Open quarterfinals. Most of them have been requested what they consider Trump’s second time period. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
At the identical time, there’s a historical past of American achievement and activism in sports activities that has been pivotal to shaping political moments, particularly in tennis. At the second, star athletes in different sports activities, significantly basketball, have been outspoken of their opposition to the Trump administration’s actions.
The insistence on determining how these gamers really feel in regards to the US is a part of a longer, steady debate about how sports activities figures reply to politics. The viral response from each side to Anisimova’s “no comment” looks as if sufficient proof that folks do want politics from athletes — simply not politics they disagree with. Many followers resolve to root for or towards an athlete or crew based mostly on politics. And whereas athletes’ achievements are easy (they win or lose), how well-known they develop into, their legacies, and their affect on sport are sometimes reflections of the tradition at giant and what we worth.
What’s made it extra difficult for US athletes right now is that the US’s repute on the worldwide stage has declined beneath the second Trump administration. If Russian and Belarusian gamers’ opinions about their leaders are honest recreation, as they at the moment are in tennis, it’s not past the pale to ask Americans questions on how they really feel about theirs.
The plea to maintain tennis and different sports activities away from politics additionally feels a bit hole when there are insurance policies throughout the US instantly affecting sports activities. From the continuing debate and litigation about trans athletes, to the administration’s assurance that ICE — after killing two American residents in Minneapolis in January — can be on the Super Bowl in two weeks, to how the US’s visa bans will have an effect on who can and may’t come to attend the World Cup, there isn’t a cleaving away US politics from US sports activities.
One would additionally count on Team USA athletes to area comparable questions in Milan when the Winter Olympics start in February.
Team USA is poised to have a massive presence on the Games and are favorites to medal in a number of occasions. With these wins come traditions like taking part in the nationwide anthem and in depth interviews with medalists. The Olympics are additionally a place the place politics are already a storyline. The US intends to ship ICE officers to the Games, however Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, advised reporters this week that ICE was a “militia that kills” and that it might not be welcome in his metropolis.
Unlike the American tennis gamers, Olympic athletes might not give you the option to simply ignore how difficult it’s on this second to merely rejoice the US.
