American Tennis Stars Face Political Questions at Australian Open

Earlier this week, a member of the sports media at the Australian Open asked Coco Gauff about President Donald Trump and the state of her home country during a post-match press conference. Gauff expressed fatigue with the issue before answering the question honestly and diplomatically.

Now, the same reporter is posing similar versions of the same question to more American tennis players, and the responses have varied. Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, and Tommy Paul have not been asked yet.

However, Amanda Anisimova and Taylor Fritz balked at the question. Meanwhile, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula took a more bipartisan approach. But below is a breakdown of what all four players said in their post-match press conferences.

Amanda Anisimova

At the 2:00 mark of her press conference, the reporter said, "Congratulations on the win. I've been asking a lot of the American players just how it feels to play under the American flag right now. And I'm curious how you feel?"

Anisiomova replied, "Yeah, I mean, I was born in America, so I'm always proud to represent my country. And yeah, a lot of us are doing really well, and it's great to see a lot of, you know, great athletes on the women's side, on the men's side. So, yeah, I feel like we're all um doing a great job representing ourselves."

The reporter followed up, "Sorry. Just to clarify a little, I mean, sort of in the context of the last year of everything that's been happening in the U.S., does that complicate that feeling at all?" Anisimova said with a smile, "I don't think that's relevant."

Taylor Fritz

At the 8:00 mark of his press conference, the reporter asked Fritz, "Hi, Taylor. Congrats on the win. You know, I'm asking all the American players this - there's a lot happening back home in the U.S. and kind of has been for a lot of the last year, and I'm just kind of wondering how you're feeling about all of it?"

Fritz buried his head in his hands before explaining, "I mean, not sure what we're like 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 the tournament."

Madison Keys

At the 4:35 mark, the reporter said, "Congratulations on the win. This is a pretty sensitive subject, but, you know, a year into the second Trump administration, tensions in the U.S. are pretty ridiculously high. And I'm just wondering how do you feel personally about what the Trump administration has been doing? And how has it felt to you when you've spent time in the U.S.?"

Keys answered, "I think my stance has been pretty obvious. 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 U.S. is we are a mixing pot. We are very diverse. We are a home of immigrants. and I hope that we can get back to those values."

Jessica Pegula

At the 6:30 mark, the reporter said, "Congrats on the win. This is a pretty sensitive subject, but you know, the U.S. is a year into the second Trump administration now, and a lot of people are suffering, and I'm wondering how you're feeling about things back home personally and specifically what the mood is like in Florida?"

Pegula answered, "Yeah, that's a tough question. I feel, you know, I don't know. I don't like to kind of dabble too much into politics, just because it's just not the space that I really want to say that much on. But yeah, I just hope that everybody can kind of, at some point, come together and work together as far as situations or whether it's political or not political in our country.

I feel like, you know, 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. But I just hope you know that we can come together at some point with like a good dialogue where things can actually get accomplished and things that we want to see accomplished, and it not be so divisive, I guess."

When asked specifically about the mood in Florida, Pegula replied, "Personally, Florida's been, I think, okay. I think Florida there's a big melting pot of different people from all over, in Florida. So, I feel like, especially me being in South Florida near Miami, I mean, there's people of all over the country that come to move to Florida, and there's a lot of international people that are there.

So, I don't know if that's maybe why you kind of get a lot of different cultural differences in a good way, honestly. So, Florida to me, at least where I live, has been fine."

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