Australian Open star's bizarre X-rated signature raises eyebrows

Tennis star Taylor Fritz has caused a whole lot of laughter and even more confusion with an on-camera that resembled something largely X-rated.

The US player defeated Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili at John Cain Arena and went over to the camera lens to write a message as has come tradition.

Although viewers were quick to notice that the drawing leaned more on the inappropriate side of things.

One fan simply asked: “Taylor Fritz, what is this?”

And well, the world number nine had a very valid explanation as to why his ‘NSFW drawing’ was broadcast across the world.

He tweeted: “For [your] information I was trying to draw a (lock) emoji... I just forgot the very important fact that I suck at drawing.”

Kudos for the attempt, I guess.

But that is definitely not a padlock.

While drawing may not be his forte, at least he’s good with his hands in other ways - in tennis, we mean.

Fritz’ victory on Tuesday (January 17) happened under a closed roof due to the extreme heat policy that was activated.

The play was suspended on courts other than Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena until 5 pm due to the conditions.

However, the American was less than bothered by the hot weather.

He told the media at the press conference: “It’s hot, but it’s dry heat, so I don’t really mind it too much.

“I think playing in, like, D.C. last year, US Open some years, is much worse because it’s so hot, plus the humidity.

“When it’s like today, it’s not that humid … I don’t think it’s as bad.”

The 25-year-old was also asked about how he felt about the ‘Netflix curse’ that has seen players who appeared in the documentary series Breaking Point pull out of the Australian Open.

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic and Spain’s Paula Badosa all featured in the series and have all had to withdraw from the event.

Although, Fritz was unaware of the ‘curse’.

“I noticed the people pulling out of the tournament, but I didn’t know it was a thing, like ‘I’m going to lose my first round because I’m in the Netflix show,’” he said.

“I didn’t think of that.”

Featured Image Credit: Chris Putnam / Alamy. @natfolk/Twitter.

Topics: Tennis, Australian Open, Australia

Jayden Collins

Jayden Collins is a Journalist at SPORTbible. He has worked across multiple media platforms in areas such as sport, music, pop culture, entertainment and politics. He is part of the editorial team for LADbible Australia.