Dylan Bettencourt
Shelby Rogers will not only have to deal with the pain of losing in her home Grand Slam, the US Open, but she will have to deal with a barrage of abuse on social media.
The American tennis player suffered a 6-2, 6-1 defeat to Emma Raducanu on Monday.
This defeat will showcase the highs and lows of social media after the high praise she received for defeating world number one Ashleigh Barty over the weekend.
She said she appreciated the spotlight when winning.
“But today I’m going to receive nine million death threats,” she said.
“It goes from one extreme to the other very quickly,” adding that by now she would have expected to have got used to it.
“But I kind of wish social media didn’t exist.”
She said that social media has become a crucial way for athletes to market their brand and boost their popularity.
Rogers said she’s been told to ignore the hateful comments but some of the abuse gets to her.
Her compatriot Sloane Stephens said she received hundreds of angry and aggressive messages on social media following her third-round defeat in the tournament.
She said the majority of these abusive messages were either racist or sexist in nature.
Mental health has become an important aspect of sport during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the US Open offering extensive mental health support to participants. One component of abuse that the US Open cannot mend, however, is that which is sent on social media.
The women’s singles event is now at its quarter-final stage with the final set for Saturday.
Image source: @SkySports
