American tennis professional JESSICA PEGULA was subjected to repulsive online abuse following her recent match at the French Open.
Pegula, aged 31, was defeated by French wildcard Lois Boisson with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.
Boisson, considered a breakout player of the tournament, continued her successful run by eliminating the No. 6 seed, Mirra Andreeva, in the quarter-finals.
This propelled the world No. 361 into a semi-final match against Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff, guaranteeing Boisson a significant sum of £578,000 in prize money.
However, Pegula faced disturbing comments on social media after her unexpected exit from the French Open. One particularly horrific message expressed hope for the death of her first-born child.
The world No. 3, who is the daughter of billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills, Terry Pegula, shared screenshots of the Instagram notifications she received on her story.
Among the appalling messages were those left on a post about the recent tragic death of her beloved dog, Tucker.
Issuing a “viewer discretion advised” warning, Pegula displayed the comments, many of which appeared to be from disgruntled individuals who had lost money betting on her match.
One message read: “You sold this match on purpose. Can`t wait until Karma spends the block back on you. Hopefully your first-born child will be a still birth.”
Another user wrote: “Tucker is better off without this loser.”
A third commenter added: “Somewhere in the world, there is a tree that`s working really hard to produce the oxygen you waste.”
A fourth commented: “Stop playing tennis, brother, you`re making people lose money.”
Caption: Coco Gauff makes humiliating mistake as she walks on to French Open court without crucial equipment
A sixth message stated: “Just quit playing tennis and enjoy your father`s money! You are literally the most useless top-ten player ever.”
And a final user posted a picture of a playing card with the words “you die” written on it.
Pegula described the senders of these comments as “insane and delusional”.
She further commented: “And I don`t allow dms and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline.
“This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level?”
“I`d love to know because it seems to be predominantly tennis?? It`s so disturbing.
“Every person on tour deals with it. It`s so bad. Those are just really small snippets.
“I get told my family should get cancer and die from people on here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy.
“I`ve seen stories of comments/threats/stalking making headlines in other sports… well news flash I can guarantee it`s 100 times worse.
“These comments are nonstop for us. Win or lose – it`s whatever they bet on.
“When fans get on us as athletes to be tougher and stronger etc etc. just realize you prob don`t have people sending you death threats every day and hoping your family dies and you give birth to a still-born child.”
