It was the US Open 2024, and Caroline Garcia had just made headlines for reminding the community just how difficult athletes could have it online. And she wasn’t alone. Despite Threat Matrix being launched months ago, things hadn’t changed. Names like Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff spoke up. It seems the problem has reared its head once again. While her successes have been cheered widely, Pegula’s failures have also led to major backlash from the fans. As a result, she has often been called out on social media, and a similar situation erupted after her French Open failure. As the odds favored Pegula to win, her shock defeat came as a brutal shock to the betting industry. Subsequently, she pointed out a disturbing fact of betters and online hatred that ensued.

Earlier this week, the American star lost in the fourth round match against the local star, Lois Boisson. Although Pegula gave it her all, she couldn’t overcome the challenge of a spirited Boisson, who prevailed in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Subsequently, the betters, who lost their bets on Pegula, began to criticize her on social media for her loss. With the trolls becoming tough for her to digest, Pegula finally broke her silence on this matter.

Taking to her official Instagram handle, Pegula shared a note via her story, which read, “These betters are insane and delusional and I don’t allow dms and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline. This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I’d love to know because it seems to be predominately tennis? It’s so disturbing.”

Further, Pegula even admitted that such hatred might exist in other sports as well, but it was 100 times worse in tennis. Win or lose, this issue existed irrespective of the result. Moreover, on one occasion, Pegula also came across the threats in the NHL, and such things were already experienced by her in the past, denoting how things were worse in tennis. Remember back in 2024 when someone running Ready 24, Pegula’s collection of skin care products, came to her with a worry after seeing the comments on the page. Even her grandparents have noticed the threats. Despite this, Jessica Pegula continues to go strong. “It’s not normal. But it’s totally normal for us. It’s so bad that it’s kind of come to that point,” she once said.

Meanwhile, Pegula isn’t the first player to talk about online hatred in the recent past. Even her compatriot, Coco Gauff, has highlighted this issue and revealed how she dealt with it.

Coco Gauff takes online hatred as motivation

Being one of the top players in women’s tennis, Gauff’s performances are closely scrutinized. As a result, when things don’t go her way, Gauff is often called out on social media by the fans. Nonetheless, it only adds fuel to Gauff’s hunger to succeed, and she has found the mantra to deal with online criticism.

During an interview, she revealed, “I use it as fuel. In this sport, the season is very long and sometimes fans get very dramatic after a couple of losses, they think your career is over. I just believe that one must keep training, focus on oneself, and try to silence all those voices. I don’t feed what people say because I know it’s not true. I would love, sincerely, to play perfect tennis every year for the next ten, although I don’t know how long I’ll be on the circuit. However, I can’t. It’s impossible, nobody does. It’s part of life, so I use all of that as motivation.”

While Pegula has bowed out of the French Open, Gauff is still going strong in the tournament. She will take on Lois Boisson in the semifinal tomorrow. Can Gauff win her maiden French Open crown this year? Let us know your views in the comments below.