New Delhi: American tennis star Coco Gauff hit out at the social media backlash she faced in the aftermath of her win in the round of 32 at the China Open against Chinese Sun Xinran.
Gauff defeated Sun 7-5, 6-1 to march into the round of 16, but a moment in the first set agitated the fans, following which she was subject to racist comments on social media, Gauff revealed.
The American was serving at 4-5 and at 15-15, she lost one point but raised an issue with the chair umpire over the flickering of the LED advertising boards. The point was replayed, and Gauff went on to win the game and the set 7-5.
However, the incident did not go down well with a section of fans. The American took to social media to reveal the abuse she has been receiving. "Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist. 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," Gauff wrote in reply to a user on X.
She then detailed the incident, highlighting that the players are allowed to challenge for a point and that she didn't have the decision in her hands. "I saw it flicker in the beginning of the point but was not sure if that is what I actually saw," Gauff explained.
"We are told before the matches we are allowed to continue to finish play, so keep it in mind. Anything can be challenged after the point is over.
"If I would've lost the point, my opponent is also free to do the same thing and ask for a replay, and she would've been completely in her right to do so," Gauff said.
The 22-year-old highlighted that she raised her hands when she saw the board flicker again. "When it flickered again, I raised my hands before she hit her shot because this is when I was sure I saw the light flicker, and it wasn't my mind doing tricks lol.
"It was an unfortunate situation, but it is out of my control," she said. "The think pieces and calling me unfair is ridiculous when those are the rules. I did not make them."
Meanwhile, this wasn't the only incident of advertising board flickering. In the quarterfinal between Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic, the former asked for a point to be replayed after getting distracted by the flickering in the LED panels during the game.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
