An Australian newspaper released a new issue with a front page designed to defend a controversial cartoon on Serena Williams and her outburst at the US Open final last weekend.

(Mark Knight's Cartoon. Photo: AFP)

With the headline "Welcome to PC world", the newspaper, Herald Sun, wrote: "If the self-appointed censors of Mark Knight get their way on his Serena Williams cartoon, our new politically correct life will be very dull indeed".

Cartoonist Mark Knight's original drawing was published in the Herald Sun on Monday, depicting Williams stomping on a broken racquet next to a baby's dummy with an angry face while the umpire asks her opponent Naomi Osaka, "Can you just let her win?"

Critics accused the cartoon of sexism and racism. British author J. K. Rowling wrote on Twitter: "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."

Some also said Knight had "whitewashed" Osaka, because the half Haitian-half Japanese player was drawn as a white woman with blonde hair.

The cartoonist's Twitter account has now disappeared.

BBC reported that Knight denied it was racist and said the cartoon only meant to depict the tennis player's "poor behavior". And he got backing of Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston, saying in a tweet that the cartoon "rightly mocks poor behavior by a tennis legend... Mark has the full support of everyone".

Serena Williams, 36, failed to win her 24th Grand Slam title on Saturday. But much of the attention was focused on her clash with umpire Carlos Ramos, who handed Williams code violations for receiving coaching signals and smashing her racket, which cost her a point.

Williams launched into a tirade to Ramos, calling him "a thief" and "a liar". The outburst led Ramos to dock Williams for the next game because of "verbal abuse", and Japan's Naomi Osaka eventually won, 6-2, 6-4. 

Williams pleaded her case for the sexist penalties and doubled down on her outrage at a media conference later. "I've seen other men call other umpires several things," she said. "I'm here fighting for women's rights and for women's equality and for all kinds of stuff."

Billie Jean King, one of the founders of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and 12-time grand slam singles champion, thanked Williams via Twitter for calling out the double standard that "When a woman is emotional, she's 'hysterical' and she's penalized for it. When a man does the same, he's 'outspoken' and there are no repercussions."