Donald Trump supporter Tennys Sandgren has deleted 18 months worth of tweets after his political views were put under the microscope following his unlikely charge to the Australian Open quarter-finals.
After downing No.5 seed Dominic Thiem on Monday to move into the last eight at Melbourne Park, the 26-year-old Sandgren was grilled on his seeming support for the alt-right movement in the United States.
Sandgren said he found some of the online content "interesting" but that he did not support the movement.
"No, I don't. I don't," he told reporters.
"I find some of the content interesting. But, no, I don't. Not at all.
"As a firm Christian, I don't support things like that, no. I support Christ and following him."
Among the deleted tweets was one from November 2016 where Sandgren appeared to back the debunked Pizzagate online conspiracy which had linked Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to a supposed child sex abuse ring at a Washington pizzeria.
Earlier this month, he retweeted a video from white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes.
"Who you follow on Twitter, I feel like doesn't matter even a little bit," Sandgren said at Melbourne Park.
"What information you see doesn't dictate what you think or believe and I think it's crazy to assume that.
"To say 'well he's following X person so he believes all the things that this person believes', I think that's ridiculous.
"That's not how information works.
"If you watch a news channel, you wouldn't then say that that person who's watching a news channel thinks everything that that news channel puts out. You wouldn't think that."
Sandgren has also argued online with former US tennis player James Blake about racism in the United States.
"I just don't know how a country that practices systemic racism elected a black pres, twice," Sandgren tweeted.
After deleting 18 months worth of tweets on Monday night, his most recent one is now from June 23, 2016 which reads: "Freedom wins #Brexit".
The American world No.97 plays South Korean Hyeon Chung in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Before this tournament he had never won a singles match at a major.
He is guaranteed at least $440,000, the biggest pay day of his career - but also another post-match grilling about his controversial political views.
