US tennis star Jessica Pegula reveals disturbing fan abuse and death threats after shock French Open exit
Jessica Pegula has revealed that her shock French Open exit was met with disturbing online abuse from bettors - and she called out those 'insane people' on Wednesday.
World No. 3 Pegula was eliminated at Roland-Garros in the fourth round, as wild card Lois Boisson beat her 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
And last year's US Open finalist received some horrific comments afterwards, as she posted a thread on her Instagram story detailing what she'd been subjected to.
In her Instagram comments - under a post of Pegula mourning the loss of her dog, no less - one fan said that 'Karma' would come for her, and hoped that her first-born child would be a stillbirth.
Under the same post, another person said that 'Tucker [her dog] is better off without this loser,' while another comment on the website said: 'Somewhere in the world, there is a tree that's working really hard to produce the Oxygen you waste.'
Another commenter posted a picture of a playing card with the words 'You Die' on it.
Another accused her of losing on purpose and hoped she delivered a still-born child
Pegula, the son of billionaire and Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, was also called 'useless' by another fan.
'Just quit playing tennis and enjoy your father's money! You are literally the most useless top 10 player ever,' they said.
After sharing screenshots of the various instances of abuse, Pegula called the bettors 'insane and delusional.'
'... And I don't allow dms and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline. This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I'd love to know because it seems to be predominately tennis?? It's so disturbing.
'Every person on tour deals with it,' she continued. 'It's so bad. Those are just really small snippets. I get told my family should get cancer and die from people on here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy.'
Pegula fell to Lois Boisson after taking the first set of the match at Roland-Garros
She continued: 'I've seen stories of comments/threats/stalking making headlines in other sports... well news flash I can guarantee it's 100 times worse. These comments are nonstop for us. Win or lose - it's whatever they bet on.'
After revealing that she had also been notified by the NHL of threats against her (her father owns the Buffalo Sabres as well), she said that such abuse wasn't okay - even if it has 'never really gotten to me.'
'When fans get on us as athletes to be tougher and stronger etc etc. just realize you prob don't have people sending you death threats every day and hoping your family dies and you give birth to a still born child,' she said.
Pegula added that it wasn't realistic for tennis players to stay off of social media as they need to be on there to post sponsorships.
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