The trolls finally got their pound of flesh. Coco Gauff, drained by a torrent of racist abuse that should shame everyone who fired it her way, crashed out of the China Open on Wednesday with an uncharacteristically flat performance that spoke volumes about the mental toll social media hatred can inflict.
Also read: Medvedev’s wayward shot ends China open dream
The American world number four went down 6-3, 6-3 to Belgium’s Elise Mertens in Beijing, double-faulting eight times and moving with all the dynamism of someone carrying the weight of the internet’s worst instincts on her shoulders. This wasn’t the vibrant, competitive Gauff tennis fans have come to expect. This was a 22-year-old athlete ground down by racism masquerading as sports discourse.
“It has been kind of draining. I’m not going to lie,” Gauff admitted afterwards. “But I just turn off my phone and move on. There’s nothing you can do.”
The abuse that preceded the defeat
Gauff was playing just a day after calling out the “insane” volume of racist abuse she’d received following her second-round victory over Chinese teenager Sun Xinran. The trigger? A challenge over flickering LED lights on the stadium’s advertising hoardings during that match.
Gauff had requested a video review when she noticed the lights flicker for a second time, crucially, before Sun had returned the ball. The umpire agreed, the point was replayed, and Gauff went on to win 7-5, 6-1. Some in the crowd booed. Fair enough; home fans protecting their player is part of sport.
What followed online was not part of sport.
Early Tuesday morning, Gauff took to X to address the deluge of filth: “Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist.” She was responding to a post containing a racial slur, just one of countless such messages that flooded her accounts.
“The amount of racist comments and messages I’ve received in the last few hours is insane,” she wrote.
A listless performance
Against Mertens, Gauff simply wasn’t there. Not physically, she showed up, warmed up, played the match. But mentally? The spark was gone, suffocated by the emotional labour of processing hatred directed at her skin colour for the crime of challenging a line call.
“I think I just didn’t play well. I think I wasn’t moving well,” Gauff said, her assessment clinically accurate if diplomatically understated. “There were a lot of things I didn’t do well. I thought Elise played well on the bigger points.”
Eight double faults tell their own story. This is a player who won the Beijing title in 2024 and reached the semi-finals last year.
A small group of supporters in the largely empty stadium tried to rally her into a comeback. Credit to them for recognising what was happening and attempting to lift her. But some battles can’t be won with applause when you’re fighting exhaustion that has nothing to do with physical fitness.
WTA’s response: Words and promises
The Women’s Tennis Association issued a statement condemning the abuse, calling itself “appalled by the racial abuse directed at Coco Gauff” and confirming it had contacted her to offer support.
“There is no place for racism, discrimination, or abuse in tennis,” the WTA said, adding that it was “seeking action” against the abusive content.
Strong words. The question, as always, is what “seeking action” actually means in practice. Social media platforms have proven remarkably adept at ignoring racism until forced to act, and even then, the response is often tepid at best.
