Nick Kyrgios offered some empathy to Elina Svitolina after seeing the shocking abuse she received for only losing a tennis match.
In the Montreal quarterfinal, Svitolina didn't enjoy a good day at the office and Naomi Osaka took full advantage of it to complete a 6-2 6-2 win.
After arriving in the hotel and checking her phone, Svitolina noticed that she was flooded by abusive and insulting messages of all sorts - she wasn't insulted only on a career level but the angry bettors also mentioned her marriage and family. As if that wasn't enough, the Ukrainian also received death threats.
Svitolina took several screenshots - she posted them - and then delivered a blunt message to her abusers: To all the bettors: I'm a mom before I'm an athlete. The way you talk to women - to mothers - is SHAMEFUL. If your moms saw your messages, they'd be disgusted...
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Kyrgios reacts to Svitolina dealing with horrifying social media abuse
"Disgusting (sad emoji), the 2022 Wimbledon finalist wrote on X after noticing the Ukrainian's post.
A couple of years ago, Kyrgios decided to go public with his mental health story and revealed that there was a point in 2019 when he battled major depression, anxiety, and even had suicidal thoughts during that period. In one of his interviews around the time of his revelation, the Australian admitted that it wasn't easy to deal with constant social media abuse.
I deal with it all the time. People just think raising the finger, abusing someone or making racist comments is acceptable in this day and age and I just dont think thats acceptable at all," Kyrgios said at the time.
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Unfortunately, social media abuse remains a major problem and that's why some players decided to ditch social media in recent years.
