Sloane Stephens say racist abuse has ‘only gotten worse’ throughout her career after French Open win
Sloane Stephens says racial abuse has ‘only gotten worse’ as US tennis star reveals she’s dealt with it her ‘whole career’ following French Open win
- The world number 30 passed Czech 14th seed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-4
- Players at Roland Garros have been given software to prevent online abuse
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Sloane Stephens has said racial abuse is only getting worse before citing FBI investigations as a means of suggesting the “very serious” nature of the problem plaguing society.
The American spoke on the matter after her victory over Karolina Pliskova in the first round of the French Open on Monday.
“Obviously it’s been a problem my whole career,” said Stephens, who is African American. ‘It never stopped. In any case, it’s only gotten worse.’
“I mean, if there are FBI investigations going on about what people are saying to you online, it’s obviously very serious,” she said.
“Obviously it’s something I’ve had to deal with my whole career. I think, as I said, it’s only going to get worse and people have free reign online to say and do what they want behind fake pages, which of course is very difficult.’
Sloane Stephens spoke at her press conference on Monday about the spread of racist abuse
The world number 30 swept past Czech 14th seed Karolina Pliskova in straight sets; 6-0, 6-4
“It’s something I’ve dealt with my entire career and something I’ll definitely continue to deal with. That’s that.’
Tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams, also black, have been the target of abuse like professional athletes in all sports, with Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. the most notable recent case.
Players at Roland Garros have been given AI software designed to block racist comments. Stephens admitted that she didn’t use it, but it couldn’t stop racially hateful comments.
“I’ve banned a lot of obvious keywords on Instagram and all this stuff, but that doesn’t stop someone from just typing an asterisk or typing it in some other way, which software usually doesn’t catch.”
Stephens, a 2018 finalist, will face World No. 43 Varvara Gracheva in Russia on Wednesday
The software provided by the organizers is for the first time able to identify and remove racist and other forms of hate speech.
The French tennis federation has made it available to all players of the tournament.
Using AI, it filters abusive comments on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Stephens, a 2018 finalist, will continue her French Open journey against Russia’s world number 43 Varvara Gracheva on Wednesday.