Former Tennis World No. 4 Caroline Garcia Faces Online Abuse, Blames 'Unhealthy Betting'

Former world number four Caroline Garcia of France shared some of the disparaging messages she has received in the wake of recent defeats on Wednesday and cited "unhealthy betting" as a driver of social media abuse of players. Garcia, an 11-time WTA champion who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2022, fell to 92nd-ranked Renata Zarazua in the first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, in a lengthy post on X, she shared "just a few" of the messages she has received after defeats, including one telling her to shoot herself and another saying "I hope your mom dies soon". At the age of 30, she said, she's done enough work to get past the hurtful messages. "I have tools and have done work to protect myself from this hate. But still, this is not OK," Garcia wrote. 

"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."

Garcia called out the practice of the sport and tournaments partnering with betting companies, wondering if it contributed to a rise in such abuse.

"Tournaments and the sport keeps partnering with betting companies, which keep attracting new people to unhealthy betting," Garcia said. 

"The days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone. Yet, here we are promoting betting companies, which actively destroy the life of some people."

She continued, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be banned as people are free to do whatever they want with their money. But maybe we should not promote them. Also, if someone decided to say this things to me in public, he could have legal issues. So why online we are free to do anything?