By her own admission, it took only a few minutes for Coco Gauff to start getting hateful messages after her semifinal loss at Wimbledon. While those messages mostly centered around disgruntled bettors expressing their frustrations, what the World No.4 is facing at the China Open is even more serious. After the controversial moment against Xinran Sun in Beijing, the 23-year-old called out the negative voices, shutting down people who did not hesitate to racially abuse her and label her with derogatory tags.

“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” said Gauff on X. “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.”

Gauff has come under fire from fans since she asked for a video review against Sun during their third-round clash in Beijing. The American claimed to be distracted by the flickering lights mid-rally and made her review request after Sun had won the point. The umpire agreed with Gauff’s claim and asked the point to be replayed.

The match was in the balance when the incident occurred, with Gauff serving to stay alive in the first set at 4-5. With the replayed point going her way, the American took a 30-15 lead instead of going down 15-30, giving her Chinese opponent the opportunity to put pressure on her serve. However, as it turned out, Gauff was able to close the first set out at 7-5, before running away with a 6-1 second set.

This is not the first time that Gauff has called out racial abuse during her career. Last year, the American made her case for better comment-filtering protocols from social media platforms to protect players from harassment. Gauff talked about how the abuse was not only limited to her, but how her close ones were getting abused as well, especially when she lost her matches.

As for her match in Beijing, Gauff defended her position to challenge the call after the point. While it was unfortunate for Sun, who had won the point, the defending champion was well within her rights to call a video review after the rally had ended, as stipulated by the new VAR rules in tennis. Under the older guidelines, Gauff would have to stop the point immediately to call for a review, whereas now players have the added leeway to challenge late.

“It was an unfortunate situation, but it is out of my control. The think pieces and calling me unfair are ridiculous when those are the rules. I did not make them. I think it’s weird I’m getting hate for following the rules,” said Gauff on an Instagram comment which she shared on X. “Xinran is an incredible talent and player. I apologized for the situation at the end of the match, and she completely understood.”

This is also not the first time that a late VAR call has caused controversy at the China Open. In the men’s tournament, the quarterfinal match between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev saw the Serb getting into a heated argument after the German was allowed a late video challenge to overturn a point that had gone in Djokovic’s favor.

On the other hand, Gauff will look to put this controversy behind her and look forward to her next match as the American looks to win her second title of the year.

Coco Gauff Will Look to Leave the Controversy Behind as She Looks to Go Deep in Beijing

Gauff will not have much time to dwell on the on-court controversies as she gears up for her next match in Beijing. However, the American will have the added pressure as she is set to take on Elise Mertens next.

Since her run to the Wimbledon semifinal, there have been some notable improvements in Gauff’s game, especially her attacking shots. The two-time Major champion is no longer only reliant on her world-class backhand and court coverage, but can also call upon her forehand and her serve, which has turned into a weapon.

Before the event, Gauff was over 1400 points ahead of the fifth-ranked Mirra Andreeva. However, given the live rankings, the Russian is only a little over thirty points behind Gauff, and should the American slip up in Beijing, her ranking could be there for the taking. However, going up against Mertens will bring back happy memories for the American, who has an unbeaten 5-0 record against the Belgian.