In the age of social media, players’ performances are closely scrutinized. Even the smallest of errors face massive backlash from the fans. However, there is a fine line between criticizing the performances and disgraceful comments about the same. Such incidents have been rampant of late, especially in women’s tennis. Even the likes of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula faced the wrath of the fans for their recent performances. Earlier today, another WTA star came forward and addressed this issue.
Following her early ouster from the Wimbledon Championships, Gauff was called out on social media despite winning the French Open title recently. Fans slammed the American sensation for her performance, with some even crossing the line. One of the fans even commented on TikTok that she was “decent” at tennis. Subsequently, Gauff shut down TikTok in a strong response to online trolling. However, it looks like the problem is only spreading out in tennis instead of getting curbed as another player reported online harassment.
23-year-old tennis sensation Alina Charaeva participated in the WTA 125 tournament in Porto. However, the eighth seed had a shock loss in the second round, losing against Vitalia Diatchenko in a nail-biting match. The encounter went into the final-set tiebreaker, with Charaeva losing it 7-6 (0). After the encounter, the Russian star faced massive criticism on Instagram.
Charaeva took to her Instagram story to share some snapshots of the harsh comments posted by the fans. While one of them wrote, “This girl is so sh*t, 4-0 to 4-6 but then still somehow loses. Serves like a 5 year old,” another fan commented, “Alina is one of the worst players I’ve ever watched in my life this girl will never be good at tennis.” These brutal trolls took a toll on Charaeva, who made the tennis world known of the brutalities that the players have to face in the age of technology. Charaeva even took a sarcastic dig at these fans, writing, “when u lose ur match 6:7 in the third set,” along with a wow emoji.
Even as the players have openly expressed their concerns over these issues, the problem is wider than it looks and keeps on spiraling. Thus, players like Gauff have learned how to deal with it.
Coco Gauff on dealing with online trolls
Being a top player on the WTA circuit, Coco Gauff‘s performances are closely scrutinized. As a result, when things don’t go her way, some fans take to social media to slam the American sensation in a brutal manner. Incidents like these have occurred frequently, and Gauff is slowly learning of how to deal with such problems.
During an interview, she said, “It’s something a lot of people can relate to, most have seen how internet trolls don’t believe in them. Sometimes I read comments specifically to encourage myself and use them as motivation to prove them wrong.”
Similarly, other stars like Pegula and Iga Swiatek have also learned to turn their backs against such trolls. On one occasion, a fan totally crossed the line with Pegula and issued a death threat to her, but the American star ignored such brutal trolls and said, “It’s not normal. But it’s totally normal for us. It’s so bad that it’s kind of come to that point.”
It is high time that social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok take action against such fans. Else, this problem will keep spiraling on, and would lead to a dangerous place for the players to be in.
The post After Horrifying Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula Confessions, 23YO WTA Icon Reports Shameful Trolling: “This Girl is So Sh*t” appeared first on EssentiallySports.
