“You should kill yourself”: Caroline Garcia denounces the death threats she received after her defeat at the US Open tennis tournament

Caroline Garcia a été éliminée au premier tour de l’US Open 2024. MAXPPP – Thierry Larret

French number 1 Caroline Garcia published a post on Twitter in which she says she was the victim of numerous hate messages and death threats after her defeat in the first round of the US Open.

Caroline Garcia, 28th in the WTA rankings, lost her match last night against Mexican Renata Zarazua (92nd in the world) by a score of 6-1, 6-4. This defeat was accompanied by hate messages and even death threats against the Frenchwoman: ““I hope your mother dies soon,” “you should kill yourself,” “you're a piece of shit,” …

"I work to protect myself from this hate,"

"There are hundreds of them," she adds, "It really worries me when I think about the young players coming up and having to go through this. People who haven't fully developed as human beings yet and could be affected by this hatred.”

The player says she's used to this kind of hateful messages but “It still hurts.” “Because at the end of the day, I'm just a normal girl who works really hard and does her best […] I work to protect myself from this hate".

The 30-year-old Frenchwoman then criticizes in her message the excessive promotion of sports betting sites which according to her would contribute to this increase in hate on the Internet. “If someone decided to tell me this kind of thing in public, he could get into legal trouble. So why are we free to do whatever we want online ? Shouldn't we reconsider online anonymity ? ” she asks herself.

Garcia ends her message by addressing the Internet users directly: “But maybe you, the next time you see a message from an athlete, a singer or any other person who has failed or lost, you will remember that he or she is also a human being who is doing his or her best in the life".

The French Tennis Federation supported its player for having the courage to denounce the cyberbullying of which she is a victim.