Coco Gauff writes ‘RIP TikTok USA’ on a TV camera

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – American tennis star Coco Gauff grieved over loss of TikTok’s app at home, wrote on a TV camera lens “RIP TikTok USA” and drew a broken heart right after winning a match on Australian Open to reach the quarter-finals.

Gauff’s 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Belinda Bencic in the Grand Slam tournament’s main stage ended on Sunday afternoon local time in Melbourne – about an hour after TikTok could no longer be found on prominent app stores in the US on Saturday.

“I couldn’t access it after my fight. I honestly thought I would be able to get away with it because I was in Australia, Gauff said at his press conference. “Hopefully it’ll come back. … It’s really sad. I’ve been on the app since it was called Musical.ly. I love TikTok. It’s like an escape. I honestly do that before games. I guess it will force me to read more books – probably be more of a productive person. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”

Tennis players at many tournaments are often handed a pen after a win so they can deliver whatever thoughts they want through the lens of a courtside camera. In this case, Gauff paused for thought and said, “I think I’ll go with this one,” before offering her TikTok message in blue ink.

At the French Open in June 2022, after reaching her first Grand Slam final as a teenager, Gauff referenced a recent spate of mass shootings in the United States at the time, writing: “Peace. End gun violence.”

Now 20 years old, Gauff is one of the top players in his sport. She won the US Open in 2023 and is currently ranked no. 3.

Gauff has frequently posted on TikTok and often mimics popular trends.

“I feel like this is the third or fourth time this has happened. This time it’s like, ‘Whatever’. If I wake up and it doesn’t work, fine. I’m done wasting my time figuring it out,” Gauff said earlier during the Australian Open. “I see there’s a new app called RedNote that a lot of people are migrating to. So I feel like, regardless, people are fine because people will always migrate to another app.”

She added that she hoped TikTok would survive, calling it “a big thing for a lot of small businesses in our country, and a lot of creators make money from it and have the chance to spread stories. Personally, me, a lot of good stories I’ve heard from TikTok and connecting with people has been (through) TikTok. I hope it continues, (but) obviously I don’t know all the security issues and stuff.”

The company’s app was removed from prominent app stores, including those run by Apple and Google, while its website told users the short-form video platform was no longer available. The blackout began just hours before a US federal law banning TikTok was due to take effect.

Apple and Google’s app stores were banned from offering TikTok under the law, which ordered its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a US ban

“I heard about it,” said No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian who is the two-time defending champion in Melbourne, after her victory on Sunday. “This is not something we can control and I hope they will figure it out because I love TikTok.”

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AP tennis: