One of the biggest stories coming out of the 2026 Australian Open is how well the American tennis players are doing. Four US women — Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff, Iva Jovic, Jessica Pegula — are in the quarterfinals and two men — Ben Shelton and Learner Tien — also made the final eight. (Gauff, Jovic, and Tien lost their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday.) Those accomplishments have led to the other big American story coming out of the Aussie Open: How do US tennis players feel about representing their country at this moment?
In post-match interviews, they’ve been asked, some of them multiple times for clarification, what it means to play under the American flag. Implicitly, these questions are referring to federal agents killing American citizens in Minnesota, or perhaps the increasingly strange and heated threats about acquiring Greenland, or the military intervention in Venezuela and threats to launch military strikes on Iran.
Essentially, reporters are asking: Are you proud to be an American in a moment and time when so many Americans aren’t?
While tennis players may be the first US athletes on a major international stage this year to deal with this attention, they won’t be the last. In two weeks, the Winter Olympics will begin and coincide with the Super Bowl, the most-watched sporting event in the US. Many of those athletes will face the same question about what parts of America they are or aren’t celebrating.
American players are being asked how it feels to be American right now
Country representation can be a big deal in tennis when its governing bodies — the ATP and WTA tour — want it to be. For example, Russian and Belarusian tennis players are currently not allowed to represent their countries on tour and do not have flags next to their names, a decision made in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The intent is to represent neutrality despite the countries’ international aggression toward Ukraine.
Russian and Belarusian players have also, on multiple occasions, been asked what their stance on the Ukraine invasion has been. Aryna Sabalenka, the current women’s number one who happens to be from Belarus, has clarified her stance several times. This week, after a Ukrainian player said Sabalenka and other Russian and Belarusian players playing in grand slams was “wrong,” Sabalenka told reporters: “I’ve been clear before that I’m pro-peace. Nothing has changed. That’s all I can say about that.”
Asking tennis players about international and personal politics isn’t uncommon, but these queries usually aren’t on American tennis players. The aforementioned political events unfolding stateside and internationally have changed that.
Coco Gauff, the third-ranked player in the world, was asked about the state of the US under the second Trump administration and told 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 also asked the same question this week, and responded similarly 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 told reporters. “I hope that we can get back to those values.”
Both Gauff and Keys’s comments were picked up by right-wing sites and personalities, some of whom criticized the reporter for goading anti-Trump sentiment out of the players.
On the other side of the political spectrum, Ben Shelton endured sharp scrutiny after scribbling “USA till its backwards” on a camera in a post-win celebration. Critics questioned why he was seemingly celebrating his country while there was violence happening 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 players are finding out representing the US is complicated right now
Out of all the American players’ comments, it was Amanda Anisimova’s that made the most noise. It wasn’t because of her views, but because she declined to tell reporters her specific political views. “I don’t think that’s relevant,” Anisimova told the reporter who asked the same question posed to Gauff and Keys.
Even though Anisimova tried to claim neutrality, her comments ignited a sharp reaction from both political wings. Some fans criticized her and jumped to the conclusion that she was Republican. At the same time, some Republicans assumed her allegiance and cheered her on for not taking what they saw as anti-Trump bait.
Anisimova clarified her statement on January 25, telling reporters that she felt like the question was asked just 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 told 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 point in that a brief, post-win press conference isn’t likely to be a place where you’re going to get a serious, thoughtful answer from tennis players about politics.
At the same time, there’s a history of American achievement and activism in sports that has been pivotal to shaping political moments, especially in tennis. At the moment, star athletes in other sports, particularly basketball, have been outspoken in their opposition to the Trump administration’s actions.
The insistence on figuring out how these players feel about the US is part of a longer, continuous debate about how sports figures respond to politics. The viral reaction from both sides to Anisimova’s “no comment” seems like enough evidence that people do want politics from athletes — just not politics they disagree with. Many fans decide to root for or against an athlete or team based on politics. And while athletes’ achievements are straightforward (they win or lose), how famous they become, their legacies, and their impact on sport are often reflections of the culture at large and what we value.
What’s made it more complicated for US athletes today is that the US’s reputation on the international stage has declined under the second Trump administration. If Russian and Belarusian players’ opinions about their leaders are fair game, as they currently are in tennis, it’s not beyond the pale to ask Americans questions about how they feel about theirs.
The plea to keep tennis and other sports away from politics also feels a bit hollow when there are policies within the US directly affecting sports. From the ongoing debate and litigation about trans athletes, to the administration’s assurance that ICE — after killing two American citizens in Minneapolis in January — will be at the Super Bowl in two weeks, to how the US’s visa bans will affect who can and can’t come to attend the World Cup, there is no cleaving away US politics from US sports.
One would also expect Team USA athletes to field similar questions in Milan when the Winter Olympics begin in February.
Team USA is poised to have a big presence at the Games and are favorites to medal in multiple events. With those wins come traditions like playing the national anthem and extensive interviews with medalists. The Olympics are also a place where politics are already a storyline. The US intends to send ICE officers to the Games, but Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, told reporters this week that ICE was a “militia that kills” and that it would not be welcome in his city.
Unlike the American tennis players, Olympic athletes may not be able to just ignore how complicated it is in this moment to simply celebrate the US.
