Caroline Garcia details online abuse after US Open exit, cites ‘unhealthy betting’

NEW YORK — Caroline Garcia, who reached the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Open, on Wednesday shared some of the derogatory messages she has received online after recent losses and pointed to “unhealthy betting” as one reason players have been targeted on social media.

World number four Garcia, 30, was seeded 28th at Flushing Meadows but was knocked out 6-1, 6-4 by Renata Zarazua in the first round on Tuesday. Zarazua is ranked 92nd in the world and is making her US Open debut.

Garcia, in a lengthy post on X, wrote about “hundreds” of such messages addressed to her and gave examples of “a few of them,” including one telling her she should consider suicide and another saying, “I hope your mom dies soon.”

“Now that I’m in my 30s, I still feel hurt because at the end of the day, I’m just a regular girl who works hard and does her best, and I have the tools to protect myself from this hate. But still, it’s not okay,” Garcia wrote. “It really worries me when I think about the younger players who have to go through this. People who haven’t fully developed as human beings yet and could really be affected by this hate.”

In her article, Garcia also raised the issue of sports and tournaments partnering with betting companies and speculated whether this had contributed to an increase in such behavior.

“Leagues and sports continue to partner with betting companies, which continue to attract new people to unhealthy betting,” Garcia noted. “The days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone. Yet here we are promoting betting companies that are actively destroying people’s lives.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it should be banned because people are free to do whatever they want with their money,” she continued. “But maybe we shouldn’t promote it. Also, if someone decided to say these things to me publicly, they could get into legal trouble. So why are we free to do whatever we want online? Shouldn’t we reconsider our anonymity online?”

Players have denounced harassment on social media in the past.

As Frances Tiafoe, a semi-finalist in New York in 2022, said: “People say weird things. It’s just crazy.”

“I try not to look at the comments,” said 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, noting that she will ask her publicist to go through the comments and let her know when there are positive comments. “Because there will always be negative comments and I learned that the hard way.”

Grand Slam tournaments are trying to help prevent messages from reaching athletes.

The French Open has partnered in 2022 with a company that uses artificial intelligence to filter players’ social media accounts, and the groups that run the US Open, Wimbledon, the women’s tour and the lower-tier ITF Tour announced in December that they would launch a service to monitor “abusive and threatening content” on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.

“Many people have raised this issue before me, but no progress has been made so far. Social media platforms are not preventing this, even though artificial intelligence is very advanced,” Garcia said.

She concluded her post by reminding athletes and other people of public interest, saying: “I know that those who write these horrible messages will not change because of this. But maybe the next time you see a post from an athlete, singer, or anyone else who has failed or lost, remember that he or she is also a human being, trying their best in life.”

Garcia’s message received almost immediate support from her peers, including Madison Keys, Katie Boulter, and Paula Badosa.

Jessica Pegula, ranked No. 6, agreed with Garcia and shared her own experience.

“Constant death threats and family threats are now the norm, whether we win or lose,” Pegula wrote in response to Garcia.

This report includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters.