For Tennys Sandgren, Success Brings Scrutiny of His Political Views

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Thirteen times Tennys Sandgren tried to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament. Thirteen times he failed.

At the Australian Open, he had never even made it to the final round of qualifying in his five attempts. He got into last year’s French Open and United States Open through wild cards.

“Losing in qualies is awful,” Sandgren, 26, said in an interview late Monday night. “It’s one of the worst experiences I’ve had professionally, and I’ve had it a lot of times.”

He is now having his best experience professionally, reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-3 victory over fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem on Monday. He will face Hyeon Chung on Wednesday for a spot in the semifinals.

This was the first time Sandgren’s ranking, No. 97, was high enough to enter the main draw directly, and his unexpected success has had some unwanted repercussions.

He said his mother, Lia, broke a rib and took a blow to the head last week after falling during a group celebration while watching one of his matches with friends at home in Tennessee.

“They were jumping up and down,” Sandgren said. “She fell onto the pool table, cracked a rib. Whoops. I was pretty worried.”

He said his mother was now resting comfortably at home: “watching some tennis and having a good time.”

Sandgren’s social media activity has also come under scrutiny as his profile has risen at this tournament. On Monday night at his post-match news conference, he was asked about online exchanges he has had with right-wing activists. On Jan. 14, he retweeted a video on Twitter posted by Nicholas Fuentes, a young alt-right commentator and a former host of a podcast called “America First.” (Fuentes retweeted support for Sandgren on Monday.)

In November 2016, shortly after the presidential election, Sandgren indicated his support for debunked online reports of children being kidnapped, molested and trafficked in a Washington pizzeria as part of a child sex abuse ring connected to Hillary Clinton.

“It’s sickening and the collective evidence is too much to ignore,” Sandgren posted in a Twitter conversation.

Sandgren said on Monday that he did not support the so-called Pizzagate conspiracy, and he did not consider himself alt-right or support the alt-right movement.

“I don’t,” he said. “I find some of the content interesting.”

He did not elaborate on what he found interesting.

Sandgren added: “As a firm Christian, I don’t support things like that, no. I support Christ and following him.”

By Tuesday morning, all of his tweets since June 2016 appeared to have been deleted, so that his most recent was a message celebrating Brexit.

He has described himself as politically conservative, and the people he follows on Twitter include some notable politicians and pundits of the far right, including Sebastian Gorka, Ann Coulter, Mike Cernovich and Tomi Lahren. Sandgren said that following accounts or linking to information on Twitter did not indicate approval. (He also follows many of his fellow players, actors like Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, his favorite band Metallica, and a variety of news organizations.)

“Who you follow on Twitter I feel doesn’t matter even a little bit,” he said. “What information you see doesn’t dictate what you think or believe. I think it’s crazy to think that. I think it’s crazy to assume that.”

In a later interview, Sandgren said he believed it was important in the current polarized political landscape of the United States to be open to hearing differing viewpoints.

“We are definitely in an outrage culture where free speech doesn’t seem to be as free as it used to be,” he said. “There are all kinds of restrictions people want to place on that.”

Sandgren said he was interested in exposing himself to many sides of issues.

“If you already think you are correct and there’s nothing else you can learn in life, then I think you are in trouble,” he said. “I like to consume information. I like to learn. Would I consider myself alt right, if you want to ask that question? No, I don’t. Not even a little bit. I think I am a pretty devout Christian, and I treat my walk with Christ very seriously, very seriously in a way that I’m constantly looking at the things I do and how that affects me existentially.”

He added: “I want to hear your side. I want to hear everybody’s side, and I want to learn, because I’m 26. Do I think I know everything about life? No.”

Sandgren expressed concern that he might be associated with extremist views for exploring them but said they did not “represent my viewpoints.”

He also recognized that his sudden tennis success would put him under greater public scrutiny.

“I’ve been in obscurity and I get to do my own thing, which is cool, without really any kind of microscope, and it’s something I think about as far as how would I be viewed,” Sandgren said Monday night, before nearly 19 months of messages were deleted from his Twitter feed. “But I don’t think that should censor me to the point where I would censor myself from all things just to be a white rice of a personality so that everybody thinks I’m amazing. If everybody thinks you’re amazing, you probably are doing something wrong.”