admin
Journalists are meant to cover sport, not stage political ambushes, yet at this year’s Australian Open a credentialed reporter repeatedly tried to goad American players into denouncing their country and President Trump during post-match pressers. The stunt was not subtle: the same line of loaded questioning was posed to multiple U.S. athletes in an obvious effort to manufacture headlines rather than report on tennis.
That reporter has been identified online as Owen Lewis, a scribe who has filed work for outlets that mainstream audiences associate with the sports establishment, and he’s now facing deserved backlash for injecting partisan theater into what should be neutral coverage. Lewis’s insistence on asking players how it “felt” to compete under the American flag one year into the second Trump administration came across as agenda-driven more than inquisitive, and it betrayed a contempt for the athletes’ right to focus on competition.
American players handled the bait the only respectable way: by refusing to be political props. Amanda Anisimova politely rebuffed the question and said she was proud to represent the United States, Taylor Fritz visibly bristled and declined to be distracted during a tournament, and Coco Gauff expressed fatigue at being repeatedly pulled into political conversations while trying to compete. These responses showed maturity and common sense in contrast to the reporter’s obvious desire to turn sport into a culture-war spectacle.
Conservative viewers should be furious at the media’s habit of weaponizing athletes to advance an anti-American narrative, and social media reaction made clear that this stunt backfired on the reporter. Pundits and fans alike called out the transparent playbook—ask one provocative question, hope one athlete takes the bait, then blast the soundbite across the left-leaning press until it trends. That is not journalism; it is activism dressed as credentialed access, and it deserves to be exposed.
If Americans want their players to concentrate on winning instead of being squeezed for partisan hot takes, tournament media handlers and outlets must stop rewarding this behavior. Athletes go to Melbourne to win grand slams and represent their countries, not to be press-conference punching bags for an agenda that has nothing to do with the match on court. Fans who love this country should stand with the players who politely declined to be used as political props and demand that reporters get back to reporting.
We cannot let the media keep hijacking every public moment to score cheap points against half the country. Real patriots respect the right of athletes to compete and the right of fans to enjoy the sport without manufactured outrage. If the press wants to be taken seriously again, it will stop trying to turn every tennis court into a political battleground and start covering sports the way hardworking Americans expect: fairly, honestly, and with respect for those who represent our flag.
