A cartoon of Serena Williams reacting to her US Open defeat, which was dubbed racist, has been backed by the Australian Press Council.
The cartoon by Australian Mark Knight of Melbourne's Herald Sun was published last September.
The cartoon mocked the heated exchanges between runner-up Williams and chair umpire Carlos Ramos, with Knight depicting the 23-time Grand Slam champion as a child throwing a tantrum as the umpire says to eventual champion Naomi Osaka, "Can you just let her win?"
"The council considered that the cartoon uses exaggeration and absurdity to make its point but accepts the publisher's claim that it does not depict Ms Williams as an ape, rather showing her as 'spitting the dummy', a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers," the council said yesterday.
"The Council acknowledges that some readers found the cartoon offensive. However, the Council also accepts that there was a sufficient public interest in commenting on behaviour and sportsmanship during a significant dispute between a tennis player with a globally high profile and an umpire at the US Open final."