When Donald Trump welcomed the University of Georgia women’s tennis team to the White House this week, the resulting photo quickly went viral for all the wrong reasons.
In the photo, Donald Trump stands at the front with a group of men who lined up in front of the female athletes. The women were relegated to the background and obscured by the men.
A video of the moment also shows Trump shaking hands with each of the men who were staffers at the University of Georgia, and not the women who made up the champion team.
The photo was shared by press aide Margo Martin on X, who wrote: “Congratulations, Georgia Women’s Tennis!”
Former tennis player Martina Navratilova shared it, writing: “A photo is worth a thousand words”.
A photo is worth a thousand words… https://t.co/AwM13R4zlQ
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) April 22, 2026
Another user wrote: “I can barely see the women… This is embarrassing, and the image is a great visual representation of the Republican Party’s attitudes towards women.”
It is the latest example of a photograph from Trump that centres men and all but excludes women.
The most memorable example of this in recent times is an image of Trump signing an anti-abortion bill surrounded by a group of men looking on.
On Instagram, former White House photographer who worked with Barack Obama, Pete Souza, shared an image taken of Obama meeting and honouring the University of Connecticut women’s NCAA championship basketball team
“Back when the President of the United States actually shook hands with the women being honored and posed in a photo standing next to the women,” Souza wrote.
“Yesterday, the University of Georgia NCAA women’s championship tennis team were invited to the White House. The current occupant shook hands only with the males associated with the team, but not the women. A group photo posted by the White House shows him flanked by those five men; the women were in the distant background.
“I won’t post that pathetic photo. My photos show President Obama with the University of Connecticut women’s NCAA championship basketball teams in 2014 and 2016.”
The incident comes just months after the US women’s hockey team has turned down an invitation from Donald Trump to attend his State of the Union address, following the release of footage in which he joked to the US men’s hockey team that he’d face impeachment if he failed to invite the women’s team. Both the women’s and men’s team won gold medals for the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.