The US’s biggest tennis stars don’t really want to get political. They might not have a choice.

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. 

Ben Shelton signs the camera after reaching the 2nd week of the Australian Open

"USA 'til it's backwards"

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