Nick Kyrgios and Iga Swiatek are among the members of the tennis community who are rallying behind French pro Caroline Garcia, who revealed Wednesday she received a litany of vile messages in the wake of her U.S. Open defeat.
Hours after Tuesday’s first-round loss to Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa, Garcia — ranked 30th in the world — took to social media and shared a handful of notes she received from critics, who called her a “piece of s–t” and suggested she should “consider” taking her own life.
Kyrgios, who has been contributing to ESPN’s U.S. Open coverage, told Garcia, 30, to keep her “head up” amid horrid commetary.
“This is disgusting behavior. Head up Caro,” the Australian athlete, 29, responded to Garcia Wednesday on X.
Swiatek, who hails from Poland and is the current world No. 1, lauded Garcia for speaking up.
“Thank you for this voice,” Swiatek wrote Wednesday on X, where she re-shared Garcia’s initial post.
Garcia implored social media users to be mindful of what is said to one another Wednesday upon receiving hateful messages that even took aim at her family.
“This are some of the messages I received lately after loosing 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,” she posted on her Instagram and X pages.
“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 this 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.”
Garcia, who also called attention to sports “partnering with betting companies,” concluded her message, “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.”
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, a 2022 U.S. Open finalist, thanked Garcia for “speaking up” and offered her “full support.”
“Thank you Caro for speaking up,” Jabeur, 30, wrote Wednesday on X. “Its becoming frustrating for most of us when we lose any match. Lets all stick together to fight this tragedy.”
Puerto Rican former tennis pro Monica Puig also backed Garcia on Instagram.
“Stay strong ❤️ I know it’s never easy but they don’t know the day in and day outs of our lives and we all have your back,” the 30-year-old wrote.
Garcia reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open in 2022.
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