Anti-American British Reporter At Australian Open Identified, Calls U.S. 'Rogue State'

Many of the top American tennis players competing in the Australian Open were asked loaded, anti-American questions throughout the year's first Grand Slam. The majority of the players opted not to delve into political talk, focus on tennis, and not bash their country from inside a media center on the other side of the globe.

Most onlookers – tennis fans and everyday Americans – aren't just fine with seeing professional athletes stick to sports and not preach to the masses about how bad things are in the country that has given them an opportunity; they applaud it.

It's an entirely different sentiment among the liberal reporters asking the athletes to get political, and the anti-American slop written by The Observer's George Simms is the perfect representation of that.

Amanda Anisimova was among the many Americans to be asked a politically-loaded question at the Australian Open. (Mike Frey-Imagn Images)

Throughout the early rounds of this month's Australian Open, it was Owen Lewis, a freelancer covering the tournament for The Athletic, who was the alleged reporter asking American players how they felt about representing the U.S. amid President Donald Trump's second term and the ongoing situation in Minneapolis involving federal officers.

Coco Gauff was the lone American who gave the reporter what he was looking for by stating, "It's hard being a black woman" in America. After the likes of Taylor Fritz, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, and Ethan Quinn didn't play the same reporter's game – and after many empty attempts OutKick made to contact Lewis, The Athletic, and his colleagues – the anti-American questions stopped. 

That is, until Simms, a British reporter, wanted to inject his own anti-American outlook into the media center and onto Learner Tien just minutes after the American lost in the quarterfinals to Alexander Zverev.

"It's been a big day for both you and Iva Jovic," Simms began. "You really sort of feel the future for American tennis between you. It's also interesting that you're both second-gen immigrants to the US. Like in the context of everything that's happening at the moment with Trump and ICE, like what does your heritage mean to you, and how important are immigrants to America and American sport today?"

After taking a lengthy pause and briefly putting his face in his hands, Tien chose not to get into a political conversation. "Sorry, I don't really want to talk about that right now," he explained.

Two days after Tien didn't deliver the anti-Trump answer Simms was looking for, his column about how Americans "can't keep politics out of sport" was published. Simms then shared his story on X, letting his followers know he was the reporter who asked Tien the question, while calling America "a rogue state."

Simms' post on X came after OutKick reached out to him through emails and direct messages, asking if he would confirm he was the reporter who asked Tien the question about his heritage.

It is clear upon reading Simms' column that his question to Tien – coupled with the American shutting him down – not only served as the in he needed to bash the United States and President Trump, but pushed him to reveal the insane, yet typical opinion of the left, that anyone who openly supports the United States is a MAGA, Trump-loving nationalist.

Simms used Ben Shelton writing the completely innocent message "USA Til It's Backwards" on a camera after his third-round victory to criticize anyone who dares to support the United States.

"Ben Shelton was the most belligerent, writing "USA til it's backwards" on the camera after beating Valentin Vacherot in the third round, better understood as "USA no matter what He later wrote on Instagram "literally no underlying message with my camera sign…a lot of young Americans killing it in Australia this year," Simms wrote.

"Patriotism has always acted as an awkward intersection between sport and politics, but given the weaponisation of MAGA nationalism, displays like this are now inevitably interpreted as somewhere between implicit and direct support for the Trump administration."

Ben Shelton shared a pro-USA message at the Aussie Open. (Mike Frey-Imagn Images)

Simms would also like it on the record that no one should be upset with the journalists asking these loaded questions, instead, everything is President Trump's fault.

"Anger should not be aimed at journalists asking reasonable question(s), but at the president and his policies putting athletes in the position," Simms wrote. "Players asked to be viewed as human beings who happen to play tennis, yet hide behind "I'm just a tennis player" when convenient."

So, we've got a non-American reporter asking American players to bash their country while competing in another, not getting the anti-Trump answer they're looking for, and then turning around to publish a story disguised as a ‘tennis column’ to simply share their personal anti-American beliefs.

Congratulations to George Simms for following the liberal media playbook to perfection.