Coco Gauff shares how blocking people helps her tackle online abuse

Coco Gauff has expressed sympathy for Caroline Garcia after the French player received a series of horrible messages on Instagram from angry gamblers. The world No.3 said that while these kinds of things are definitely a big problem, she has at least found a way to deal with them.

On Tuesday, Garcia, the 2022 WTA Finals champion, was knocked out in the first round of the US Open after Renata Zarazua surprisingly won 6-1 6-4.

As if the loss so early in Flushing Meadows wasn’t bad enough for Garcia, she had to deal with even more bad stuff when she got back to her hotel and read the DMs that had been sent to her. And some of the insults were pretty scary, as one even told the 30-year-old French woman to “consider committing suicide.” Another wished Garcia’s mother would “die soon.”

After revealing some of the messages she has received, Garcia stressed that even though she is older and knows how to deal with such things, she can never be okay with such hate. The former world No. 4 also added that she fears for the younger players and the impact it could have on them and also criticized tournaments that have deals with betting companies.

After a 6-4 6-0 victory over Tatjana Maria, Gauff was asked by reporters if she had read about the Garcia case and if she had any thoughts on it.

“I didn’t see her post, but they told me about it. It’s obviously tough. Especially when I was younger, I had no idea that this was a thing. I thought I was being targeted at first. Then I realized that everyone got it. It’s tough because you hear a lot of bad things and people talk about your appearance, your family’s appearance, all that stuff. When you’re already struggling with your own mental health issues and then people dig even deeper, it’s tough,” Gauff said.

Gauff: I just block them all…

Although Gauff is still very young – she turned 20 in March – it would be fair to say that she has been on the Tour for a while, having first burst onto the scene in 2019. And considering she was only 15 or 16 when she started dealing with online abuse, the American tennis player has come up with a very simple but effective way to deal with difficult characters and critics: she simply blocks them, so that the same person cannot insult or threaten her again.

“I just personally block. I’m someone, I’ll literally spend 30 minutes blocking everyone. I really don’t care. I know it’s a small, insignificant thing on Twitter, because I’ve blocked so many people. They’re like, ‘You say something, and she blocks.’ Yeah, I do that (laughing). I don’t want to see it, so bye,” Gauff said.

“So yeah, it was a thing. People got mad. I thought, I don’t really care. I don’t have the right to read negative things about myself. Just like you have the right to write that, I have the right to block it. It’s a shame. Blocking can only do so much, of course. People make new accounts.”

Gauff: Hopefully AI can help…

Over the years, countless players have shared screenshots of their DMs after losses. And while it’s always an angry gambler who is upset about losing their money, there was nothing that could have been done to prevent such things from happening.

But over the past year, tournaments have deployed AI technology to filter negative messages. Gauff applauds the move and hopes more can be done to tackle online abuse in the future.

“Just for players, I don’t know. I just try not to read it too much or take it too personally, but it’s getting to the point where, you know, I know a lot of tournaments are trying to intervene and have different AI things. I’m hoping that as technology advances, that can help.
It’s tough, and you can be having a good day and then someone literally says to you, ‘Go kill yourself.’ And you’re like, OK, thanks,” Gauff added.

“I really hope that players just don’t keep watching it and especially Caroline. She’s a super nice girl. It sucks, but I hope that people — I mean, I always say that people can be more aware and nicer, but you know, millions of people have said that and only a few listen. Hopefully the Al stuff can help in the future.”

Meanwhile, Gauff will play Elina Svitolina for a place in the round of 16 of the US Open.