The United Nations Human Rights office condemned the racist online abuse directed at American tennis star Coco Gauff this week, calling on athletes, coaches, sports organizations and fans to confront racism and sexism in sport.
The response followed Gauff’s third-round match against 16-year-old Sun Xinran at the China Open in Beijing on Monday, Oct. 5. During a pivotal first-set point, Gauff raised her hand to complain that a flickering advertising board was interfering with play as Sun appeared positioned to hit a winner. After reviewing video, the chair umpire ordered the point replayed.
Gauff won the replayed point, held serve to level the set at 5-5 and went on to win the match 7-5, 6-1. The ruling generated an online backlash, and Gauff later said she received a wave of racist comments and direct messages.
“You can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” Gauff wrote on X in response to a post containing a racial slur, according to Reuters. She also defended her decision to request a review and said she apologized to Sun after the match. Gauff said the Chinese teenager understood.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, the UN Human Rights office said the attacks showed how Black female athletes are specifically targeted for racial abuse and urged the broader tennis community to stand with those facing such harassment.
The Women’s Tennis Association said it was appalled by the abuse and had contacted Gauff to offer support, The Guardian reported. The WTA uses an artificial-intelligence monitoring system designed to identify threats and abusive messages directed at players and officials.
The scale of online harassment in tennis has grown. A study by the WTA and World Tennis found more than 12,000 abusive social media posts and messages targeting players in 2025, up from about 8,000 the previous year, Reuters reported.
Gauff, 22, later said the episode had been draining. She was eliminated Wednesday in the round of 16 by Belgium’s Elise Mertens, 6-3, 6-3. The two-time Grand Slam champion then withdrew from the Wuhan Open, saying her body needed time to rest and recover, according to the WTA.
The UN’s intervention moves the incident beyond a single disputed point, placing renewed attention on the disproportionate racial and gendered abuse Black women athletes face online and the responsibility of sports organizations and digital platforms to respond.
