Tennis star exposes disgusting DMs she got after loss in Canada
One of the world’s best female tennis players has revealed the extensive online abuse she has been receiving from fans after a loss in Canada.
Elina Svitolina, who is ranked 13th in the world by the WTA, was recently eliminated in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Montreal after a straight-sets loss to Japan’s Naomi Osaka on Tuesday.
It was a disappointing loss for the Ukrainian, one that was followed by an array of attacks from upset tennis fans.
Svitolina shared some of the messages she received after the loss on her Instagram stories, some of which included death threats and had racist comments towards her marriage to fellow tennis player Gaël Monfils, who is Black.
@elisvitolina/Instagram
“To all the bettors: I’m a mom before I’m an athlete,” Svitolina wrote on the posts. “The way you talk to women–to mothers–is SHAMEFUL. If your mothers saw your messages, they’d be disgusted.”
@elisvitolina/Instagram
Svitolina has 18 career WTA singles titles to her name and an overall record of 513-267 throughout her professional career. She also ranks 14th all-time in prize money, having won over US$26 million. She peaked as the world No. 3 on the WTA rankings back in 2017.
It’s clear that she is one of the sport’s finest athletes, but that hasn’t stopped an onslaught of abuse from coming her way on social media. Outside of the death threats and racist comments, some even decided to make derogatory comments about the Russian war in Svitolina’s native Ukraine.
@elisvitolina/Instagram
Though the comments are disgusting and represent some very vile thoughts, it does appear that Svitolina is not getting too bogged down by the negativity. In a separate post following this, the Ukrainian tennis star thanked fans for their support.
“Thank you so much for all your love,” Svitolina wrote. “It means the world to me.”