cyberdad wrote:
I believe the cartoon impacted on both the African American community invoking the old exaggerated caricatures overemphasising lips nose etc...but also on women in general.
Serena was playing a black player, Naomi Osaka, when she had her famous meltdown but the cartoonist sneakily caricatured Osaka as a petite blonde. I don't think that was accidental, they were trying their best to contrast the "opposite" of Serena which in the cartoonists mind was an attractive white woman who was (naturally) also a good sport.
(1) Lips, but not nose.
(2) Blonde, but not petite and definitely not "black" (Japanese-Brazilian, clue's in the name).
My assessment of the above:
(1) Serena's lips, or rather mouth, was in focus because she was sounding off big time. It would be the same with anyone of any race if they were shouting and that was the central focus of the cartoon.
(2) There's no way to say "petite" in terms of the scale as far as can be judged. However, the "blonde" bit is puzzling unless we assume the cartoonist doesn't know much about (women's) tennis and has a principal impression of it formed by the undoubted fact that the WTA has been inundated with Slavs for seemingly decades now....