American tennis player Tennys Sandgren on Wednesday launched an attack on the media for “sensationalist coverage” regarding his political views.

The 26-year-old read out a statement in his press conference after losing his Australian Open quarter-final against Hyeon Chung, in which he said, “You dehumanise with pen and paper and turn neighbour against neighbour. In doing so, you may actually find you’re hastening the hell you wish to avoid, the hell we all wish to avoid.”

Ever since Sandgren became the first American male tennis player since 2010 to make the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, his social media activity has also been under scrutiny.

The American, a devout Christian, has been asked about his alleged alt-right leaning in press conferences in Melbourne. The 26-year-old also deleted all his tweets to have a “clean start” following the backlash over his political views.

One of his tweets, screenshots of which have been doing the rounds on Twitter, has him writing “Disgusting” along with a link to an article about Serena Williams swearing during a match three years ago.

Minutes before Sandgren’s quarter-final match was about to begin on Wednesday, Williams posted the following tweet:

Twitter and Reddit users have pointed out that cropped images of this tweet with just Williams’s photos minus the link have been shared, which give the impression that Sandgren is a racist.

Among his tweets was also one where he appeared to back a debunked online conspiracy in 2016 which linked Hillary Clinton to a supposed child sex abuse ring at a Washington pizzeria. He had also retweeted a video from white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes.

“It is my firm belief that the highest value must be placed on the virtue of each individual, regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation,” Sandgren said on Wednesday.

“Some things are being said about me that are untrue and not particularly fair,” he had told broadcaster ESPN in an interview late Tuesday.

“People have the right to voice those opinions and to say what they think, but I think my persona and my character speak for themselves. I’m comfortable with the person that I am.”

About deleting his tweets, he said, “It’s not something I’m really embarrassed about, but I just felt like creating a cleaner start is not a bad call. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad way to move forward.”

Sandgren also said that who he followed on Twitter “doesn’t matter”.

“I don’t [support them]. I find some of the content interesting,” he said. “As a firm Christian, I don’t support things like that, no. I support Christ and following him.”

With inputs from AFP