Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian finally speaks on controversial cartoon of the tennis star

In the cartoon, the tennis legend is depicted as an overgrown baby angrily jumping on her smashed racket with a pacifier nearby. In the background, her opponent Naomi Osaka is depicted as white with straight, blonde hair facing towards umpire Carlos Ramos who pleads: “Can you just let her win?”

Alexis Ohanian Sr, 35, said in a Twitter post that cartoon was “blatantly racist” and “misogynistic“.

“I am truly perplexed to learn this editor of the Australian newspaper behind the blatantly racist and misogynistic cartoon of my wife is a ‘Male Champion of Change’,” he wrote.

Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston has since defended the cartoon and Mr Knight following the outrage it generated on social media.

“A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that. It had nothing to do with gender or race,” he said.