Even Iga Swiatek is not immune to receiving social media abuse as the six-time Grand Slam champion took to Instagram to share disgusting messages she received following her Beijing exit.
After winning Seoul and making it past her opening two matches in Beijing, the Polish tennis star saw her China Open run end in the round-of-16 after Emma Navarro completed a 6-4 4-6 6-0 upset in their clash. Whoever watched the match could have noticed that the top-seeded Pole was far from her best as she blasted 70 unforced errors.
When Swiatek got back to the hotel and picked up her phone, she noticed her Instagram DM was full of abusive messages. The 24-year-old took a screenshot of the messages and described them as "a sad part of our reality in tennis."
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"Nowadays, this is a sad part of our reality in sports. Bots, betting, but also 'fans.' It is worth considering, especially since World Mental Health Day is just a few days away," the six-time Grand Slam champion captioned her Instagram post in Polish.
Swiatek was the first to admit it was a rough day at the office
For the past four years, Swiatek has won numerous sets with a 6-0 scoreline. But against Navarro, she was the one on the receiving end of a bagel. Only for the second time in the Pole's career, it happened that she lost the third set with a 6-0 scoreline.
"I'm not injured. I just played bad today... Honestly, I didn't feel like anything was working. That's why I got more and more, like, nervous," the Polish tennis star admitted after her Beijing exit.
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Swiatek now heads to the Wuhan Open, where she will hope to have a great debut and bounce back from an early Beijing loss.
