Female Tennis Player Faces Mental Abuse After US Open Loss
Seeded No. 28 Caroline Garcia publicly shared threatening messages sent to her and her family after her early exit from the 2024 US Open. Garcia, who was once ranked fourth in the world and reached the semifinals in 2022, suffered a shocking defeat in the first round with a score of 1-6, 4-6 against Renata Zarazua earlier this week. Following the match, the French player received a barrage of abusive and threatening messages on social media.
Garcia posted these messages on social media, condemning the extremists. She wrote, “They told me I should commit suicide, wished death upon my mother, and used a lot of abusive language. These people are a minority compared to my followers, but there are still hundreds of them.” Many believe that betting activities are the primary reason for the dissatisfaction of these fans, with several betting on Garcia’s victory and then resorting to abuse when they lost money.
Garcia expressed hope that artificial intelligence would be used to prevent harmful behavior on social media. “We are also human and we try our best. I worry about young players coming into the sport who will have to endure similar experiences.”
Colleague Coco Gauff expressed sympathy for Garcia, noting that she often spends hours deleting and blocking negative messages. Gauff said, “I am very concerned when young players go through this. We are human, and this causes us severe distress.”
Garcia also received support from other colleagues, including Nick Kyrgios and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Spanish player Paula Badosa shared that she has stopped reading comments from spectators during periods of poor form. Badosa said, “They almost always have a reason to abuse and threaten you. There are anonymous accounts that are not blocked by the platform.”
Badosa advanced to the third round of the US Open after defeating Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5. As of now, the highest seed eliminated in the women’s singles is Elena Rybakina, who withdrew from the second round due to injury. Other lower seeds also exited early, including Barbora Krejcikova, Maria Sakkari, Jelena Ostapenko, and Danielle Collins. Former champion Naomi Osaka was also unable to make an impact, losing to Karolina Muchova 3-6, 6-7 in the second round.
