CLOSE SportsPulse: Trysta Krick and Nancy Armour look at the complicated history between the tennis community and Serena Williams that help lead to the controversy at the US Open this past weekend and the subsequent racially insensitive cartoon depicting Williams. USA TODAY 
 
 Serena Williams breaks her racquet in frustration in the US Open final against Naomi Osaka. (Photo: Timothy A. Clary, AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 The artist behind a controversial and widely criticized cartoon of Serena Williams defended his depiction of Williams’ meltdown at the US Open and said it had nothing to do with race. 
 
 Mark Knight, a cartoonist for "The Herald Sun" in Australia, said in an interview Monday evening that his portrayal of Williams stomping on her racket as the chair umpire asked Naomi Osaka to let Williams win was an accurate representation of their final match. 
 
 “There’s nothing inaccurate in the cartoon, but I’m sorry it’s being taken by social media and distorted so much,” he said. 
 
 “The cartoon is about Serena, it was about her poor behavior. It had nothing to do with race.” 
 
 Author J.K. Rowling blasted the image as did numerous US media outlets. 
 
 Well done on reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman into a faceless prop. https://t.co/YOxVMuTXEC — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 10, 2018 
 
 “People said I’m a racist because I drew Serena as an African American woman,” Knight explained. “I drew her as this powerful figure, which she is, she’s strongly built. They say I’m racist because I drew Naomi Osaka in the background with blonde hair. Well, she does have her hair dyed blonde.” 
 
 Knight said that his phone “melted down” as criticism of his portrait roiled social media all day. He also said his wife and children were subjected to threats on their Instagram pages as a result of the cartoon. 
 
 “This is how crazy it gets. It gets picked up by social media and it’s like a rolling thunder, a storm gathering intensity until it just turns into a tornado of false accusations and crazy things that aren’t even there.” 
 
 Knight defended his work and said there are previous examples of him portraying Williams in a more favorable light. 
 
 “I think these days, I don’t think you can, it’s called punching down,” he said. “You can’t punch down these days. And what that means is you can’t criticize minority groups for poor behavior. You just can’t go there. But I’m a cartoonist and I comment on all topics.” ||||| J.K. Rowling Blasts 'Racist' Serena Newspaper Cartoon 
 
 J.K. Rowling Blasts 'Racist' Serena Williams Newspaper Cartoon 
 
 Breaking News 
 
 This is not good. 
 
 A newspaper in Australia is catching A LOT of heat over a cartoon that was trying to spoof Serena Williams' incident at the U.S. Open -- because it's racist as hell. 
 
 The cartoon -- drawn by Mark Knight (editorial cartoonist for the Herald Sun newspaper) -- shows the tennis superstar stomping on her racket. 
 
 But, let's get serious, it looks like a Jim Crow-era, Sambo-style caricature of a black person -- not Serena Williams. 
 
 The cartoon has been blasted by athletes and celebs including J.K. Rowling who said, "Well done on reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman into a faceless prop." 
 
 ESPN's Jemele Hill noted the racism is "About as subtle as Fran Drescher’s voice." 
 
 So far, it doesn't seem like the Herald Sun is backing down -- they retweeted the image and haven't pulled it. 
 
 At least, not yet. 
 
 As we reported ... Serena was penalized several times during Saturday's U.S. Open finals match against Naomi Osaka. Serena went off on the judge claiming he was a "thief" who stole a point from her. 
 
 The judge then penalized Serena a game for the "verbal abuse." Williams continued to go off on the guy to other tournament officials claiming the judge would never treat a man that way.
– After Serena Williams won at Wimbledon again today, JK Rowling sang her praises on Twitter: "I love her. What an athlete, what a role model, what a woman!" she wrote. Which drew a response from "Rob," who tweeted, "ironic then that main reason for her success is that she is built like a man." Rowling then tweeted a photo of Williams in a dress, writing, "Yeah, my husband looks just like this in a dress. You're an idiot." Maybe the guy had read this New York Times story today, which goes into detail about how Williams stands apart from her competitors: She "has large biceps and a mold-breaking muscular frame, which packs the power and athleticism that have dominated women’s tennis for years. Her rivals could try to emulate her physique, but most of them choose not to." The Root, for one, calls it "tone-deaf" and notes that it's drawing lots of hate on Twitter.