After her third-round loss to Angelique Kerber 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the U.S. Open, Sloane Stephens shared the racist abuse she suffered on social media.
On her IG stories, Stephens posted the hateful, threatening, and disgusting messages she received.
And it wasn’t just one or two.
According to Stephens, it was over 2,000.
“I am human,” wrote Stephens. “After last night’s match I got 2K+ messages of abuse/anger from people upset by yesterday’s result. It’s so hard to read messages like these, but I’ll post a few so you guys can see what it’s like after a loss.”
The messages were filled with racist abuse, threats of violence, expletives, and horrendous venom.
It’s painful for sure. But Sloane, the 2017 US Open champion, let her fans know she isn’t letting it stop her.
“This isn’t talked about enough, but it really freaking sucks,” posted Sloane. “I’m happy to have people in my corner who support me. I’m choosing positive vibes over negative ones.”
She ending by letting fans know that things aren’t always as good as her page shows them to be.
“I choose to show you guys happiness on here, but it’s not always smiles and roses.”
Sloane Stephens chose to take the high road and end her stories showing the love and support of her team. Unfortunately, isn’t an isolated occurrence.
We saw this past July at the Summer Games in Tokyo with Simone Biles.
After she withdrew from the competition, she was blasted.
They called her a coward, soft, unpatriotic, and other more disgusting things.
The pain suffered by Biles and Sloane is a reminder of the abuse that athletes, particularly Black sportswomen, face. Particularly on social media.
“Sports in general, and gymnastics, in particular, has a lot that it needs to seriously address,” wrote Letisha Brown about the pain Black sportswomen face. “We need to open our eyes and take honest action to deal with the mistakes and injustices across the spectrum.
And while many look up to them and consider them superheroes, they do hurt even if they don’t show it.
