Gauff, 22, turned in a listless performance, double-faulting eight times as she went down 6-3, 6-3 to Mertens. Speaking after the match, she described the impact of the online comments as “draining”.
“I just turn off my phone and move on. There’s nothing you can do,” Gauff said. She attributed the loss to her own play, saying: “I think I just didn’t play well. I think I wasn’t moving well. There were a lot of things I didn’t do well. I thought Elise played well on the bigger points.”
The controversy began during Gauff’s previous match in Beijing against Chinese teenager Sun Xinran. Gauff requested a video review over flickering LED lights on the stadium’s advertising hoardings, prompting some boos from the crowd. The umpire agreed to have the point replayed, and Gauff went on to win 7-5, 6-1.
Early on Tuesday, Gauff wrote on X: “Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist.” She was responding to a post that contained a racial slur, adding: “The amount of racist comments and messages I’ve received in the last few hours is insane.”
A spokesperson for the Women’s Tennis Association said it was “appalled by the racial abuse directed at Coco Gauff” and that it was “in contact with her to offer our full support”. The WTA added in a statement that there was “no place for racism, discrimination, or abuse in tennis”, and that it was “seeking action” against the abusive content.