Coco Gauff Condemns Racist Abuse Following China Open Incident
The American tennis star spoke out against racist comments and direct messages received on social media after a disputed point during her match.
Coco Gauff has condemned racist abuse she received on social media following an incident during her win over 16-year-old Sun Xinran at the China Open. The world number four was serving at 4-5 in the first set when play was halted due to a flickering light on the court.
Gauff raised her hand to stop play, a decision that was met with some contention from her opponent. After play resumed, Gauff won the next three points to level the set at 5-5 and went on to win the set 7-5 before dominating the second set 6-1 to advance to the last 16 in Beijing.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Gauff explained her actions, describing the situation as "unfortunate" but "out of my control." She noted that Sun had understood and accepted her apology.
However, Gauff later responded to a reply on her post that contained racist language. "You can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist," Gauff wrote. "The amount of racist comments/direct messages I've received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I'm not a cheater or a thief."
Gauff is not the first player in women's tennis to experience online abuse. A report from July indicated that female players were subjected to over 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media in 2025. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and World Tennis have previously stated that "collective action" is necessary to address and combat such abuse.