"Show some goddamn respect for Aboriginal Australians and educate your staff" - Tennis fans hit out at racist promotional poster ahead of 2023 season

Tennis TV welcomed the New Year with a promotional poster featuring the likes of ATP stars like Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, depicting them in Australia ahead of the new season. Unfortunately, the poster has not gone over well with tennis fans across the globe, who see it as racial appropriation and ignorance on the part of the creators.

The poster shows Casper Ruud throwing a boomerang and Daniil Medvedev playing the Didgeridoo, a wind instrument developed by the Aboriginal people of Australia more than 1,000 years ago.

Seeing these acts appropriated by caucasian men was the main cause of outrage among users on Twitter, with one fan writing:

"Seriously a white man playing a didgeridoo???? show some goddamn respect for Aboriginal Australians and educate your staff, it's embarassing for a global sport for real."

Another fan expressed a similar sentiment, stating that the poster was "culturally insensitive" even if it was made without any malicious intent, to begin with. With these objects holding a lot of significance for aboriginals, the user was of the opinion that such stereotyping did not bode well.

"I know there probably wasn’t any malicious intent behind it, but it’s quite culturally insensitive to depict these white men using them as a “haha aussie stereotypes” joke. these objects hold a lot of significance to the aboriginal peoples."

Here are a few more reactions from fans:

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Tennis players descend on Australia to start 2023 season

Australia has been taken over by the tennis stars ahead of the 2023 season

The who's who of tennis royalty has already descended on Australia to start the 2023 season, with stars preparing for the Australian Open with warm-up events in the weeks prior. Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, and others are in action at the United Cup, a mixed-team competition hosting its inaugural edition this year across the country.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune and others are in Adelaide for the ATP 250 event there, which will be followed by another ATP 250 tournament next week.

Among the WTA stars, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia and others are in action at the United Cup as well. The likes of Ons Jabeur, Danielle Collins, Bianca Andreescu, Jelena Ostapenko and Veronika Kudermetova are in Adelaide for the WTA 500 event, while Coco Gauff, Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams, and Emma Raducanu are competing in the WTA 250 event in Auckland, New Zealand.