As if losing in the first round of the final major tennis tournament of the year wasn’t bad, now Caroline Garcia is sharing the online filth that has been sent to her.
The French tennis player made a plea to end the hatred spread on social media after she was bombarded by awful messages this week.
After her loss to Mexico’s Renata Zarazua, Garcia posted on to X on Thursday a series of hateful, disturbing messages that she had received.
One image read “I hope your mom dies soon,” and another, “I hope with everything in my heart that something bad will happen to you.”
“You should consider (gun emoji) yourself,” a third message said.
These messages led her to write a lengthy post on both X and Instagram asking for people to consider who they are sending these types of things to.
“These are some of the messages I received lately after losing some matches. Just a few of them. There’s hundreds. And now, being 30 years old, although they still hurt, because at the end of the day, I’m just a normal girl working really hard and trying my best, I have tools and have done work to protect myself from this hate. But still, this is not ok,” Garcia wrote.
“It really worries me when I think about younger players coming up, that have to go through this. People that still haven’t yet developed fully as a human and that really might be affected by this hate. Maybe you can think that it doesn’t hurt us. But it does. We are humans. And sometimes, when we receive these messages we are already emotionally destroyed after a tough loss. And they can be damaging. Many before me have raised the subject. And still, no progress has been made.”
She also called for social media platforms to use the tools at their disposal to end this sort of abuse and railed against tournaments for taking on gambling companies as sponsors.
“Social media platforms don’t prevent it, despite AI being in a very advanced position. Tournaments and the sport keeps partnering with betting companies, which keep attracting new people to unhealthy betting. The days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone. Yet, here we are promoting betting companies, which actively destroy the life of some people.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should be banned as people are free to do whatever they want with their money. But maybe we should not promote them. Also, if someone decided to say this things to me in public, he could have legal issues. So why online we are free to do anything? Shouldn’t we reconsider anonymity online?”
She closed with a plea to those sending hateful messages to remember that those receiving them are real people.
“I know those who write these terrible messages won’t change because of this. But maybe you, next time you see a post from an athlete, singer or any other person, that has failed or lost, you will remember that she or he is also a human being, trying his best in life,” Garcia wrote before signing off with “Be kind. Give love. Enjoy life.”
Garcia has been open about her ups and downs. She has struggled with mental health issues in the past, including bulimia.
On the court, she ranks 30th in the world and won the Tour Finals in 2022.