Gauff Faces Racist Abuse After Disputed China Open Point
Coco Gauff said she received a surge of racist messages after a disputed point in her China Open match against Sun Xinran in Beijing. Gauff stopped playing…
BEIJING — A disputed point at the China Open drew a wave of racist abuse toward Coco Gauff, raising the stakes beyond the result of her match against home player Sun Xinran. Gauff said she received the messages on social media after stopping a rally when electronic advertising boards flickered during play.
The American went on to beat Sun 7-5, 6-1 in their third-round match on Monday. The chair umpire ordered the point replayed after Gauff stopped playing late in the first set.
Gauff responded to the abuse on X. “Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” she wrote. “The amount of racist comments/dms I've received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I'm not a cheater or a thief.”
The incident drew attention to how a split-second call on court can spill into online abuse, particularly when a player faces a home competitor. Gauff is Black, and Sun, 16, was making her WTA Tour debut after receiving a wild-card entry from tournament organizers.
Gauff said Sun had been close to winning the point when she stopped the rally. The umpire’s decision to replay it followed that interruption; Gauff later took control of the match.
“Xinran is [an] incredible talent and player, I apologized for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood,” Gauff wrote in another post.
Sun appeared distraught after the loss. Gauff said she understood the teenager’s reaction, drawing on her own experience as a young player.
“I did not like to see her so emotional as I've been there and I really understand what it is like but this is just the beginning of an incredible career,” Gauff said. “It was an honor to share the court in front of her home crowd.”
Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion ranked No. 4, reached the fourth round at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old in 2019. The China Open victory sent her past the disputed moment on court, but the racist messages continued to shape the aftermath she described online.
Sun had recently won the U.S. Open junior title. She was playing in front of her home crowd when the point was replayed, before Gauff closed out the match 7-5, 6-1.
Source: espn.com
