Top cartoonist Mark Knight has been cleared of wrongdoing over his depiction of tennis player Serena Williams during the US Open.

The Australian Press Council has ruled the cartoon, which was slammed by some as racist and offensive, did not breach media standards.

The Herald Sun cartoonist tells Ben Fordham he is “relieved” at the outcome.

“It was not about racial politics, it was not about being anti-women,” he says.

“I couldn’t quite understand the outrage.

“She just had a huge tantrum and I captured that, and that’s all it was about, poor behaviour on the tennis court.”

He says he had to delete his social media accounts after his family was targeted.

“It just wasn’t worth it when my 15-year-old daughter was getting some pretty horrible things said on her Instagram feed,” he says.

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