Unfortunately, American tennis star Coco Gauff is receiving disgusting messages online following her 7-5, 6-1 win over Sun Xinran at the China Open.
During the opening set of this Round of 32 match, Gauff was serving down 5-4 when she put her hand up for a hindrance while it was 15-15. Sun ended up hitting a winner on that point, but it didn’t count since the advertising signs on the side of the court flickered mid-rally.
Even though Gauff was well within her right to interrupt this rally, some truly awful tennis fans accused her of cheating against Sun.
As if accusing her of being a cheater wasn’t despicable enough, Gauff was bombarded with racial slurs on X. She responded to those hate messages with a brief statement Monday night.
“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” Gauff said. “The amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I ‘m not a cheater or a thief.”
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Geoff Burke.
Tennis community offering its support to Coco.
“Coco! You are a proud black woman and we love you! Don’t care or look at any of the comments from the ignorant stupid people,” six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker said. “You’re special and one of a kind! Keep walking straight with your head held up high! Love from the Becker family!”
“Clear what this was about from the beginning… absolutely disgusting that she’s subjected to this over a point replay,” one person commented.
“They do not deserve your grace Coco,” a fan wrote on X.
“Coco is responding to a racist tweet. Undoubtedly many of us will have reported the og tweet and yet it is still there. This is an indictment of how twitter encourages overt racism,” another fan pointed out.
Gauff has been a class act throughout her career. There’s zero reason for people to treat her with such disrespect.
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Chris Rosvoglou
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