Alex de Minaur responds after fiancee goes public with 'awful' revelation
Alex de Minaur has thrown his support behind fiancee Katie Boulter after the British tennis player shone a light on some of the 'awful' abuse she's been receiving on social media. Speaking to BBC Sport on Tuesday, Boulter once again lifted the lid on the situation that she and many other top tennis players face when they lose matches.
The 28-year-old shared a number of examples of vile messages she's received in recent times, including one telling her to buy "candles and a coffin for your entire family" with a reference to her "grandmother's grave if she's not dead by tomorrow". One person stated she should "go to hell" because she had cost them money, and another said "hope you get cancer".
Boulter said: "I just wonder who the person is that has sent that. I don't think it's something that I would ever say to my worst enemy. It's just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone. It's horrible.
"It shows how vulnerable we are. You really don't know if this person is on site. You really don't know if they're nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that."
Boulter said she believes the majority of the messages come from gamblers who've lost money depending on results. And speaking after his surprise first-round loss to Jiri Lehecka at Queen's, de Minaur agreed.
"When you lose, you're feeling not in the best state emotionally, but then you've also got to deal with everything that happens behind the scenes with angry gamblers," he said. "I haven't gone on my social media yet, but I'm sure I'll have a lot of people not too happy with my result today.
"Every single tennis player on the tour gets thousands, millions of messages every time they lose a match or they cost someone money betting on them. So it's something that you've gotten used to. I would love for it to be dealt with or fixed somehow, but I'm not too sure what's the answer."
The Aussie star said about his fiancee: "It's great for her to step up and shine a light into this, which is something that happens to every single tennis player out there. Every single athlete, I would say. Hopefully there is something that can be done about it. It's something that's been going on for a while now. It's something that a lot of people have spoken out against, but it doesn't change."
Boulter's revelation came on the same day that it was revealed a man who's been stalking fellow British star Emma Raducanu applied for Wimbledon tickets. The man, who was recently given a restraining order, had his name red-flagged and highlighted by the All England Club's security system, and his request for tickets was subsequently rejected.
The man had made an appearance at a match Raducanu was playing in Dubai in February, leaving her visibly shaken and hiding behind the umpire's chair when she saw him. Earlier this month, Raducanu revealed the ordeal had made her "wary" when going out. "I try not to be careless about it because you only realise how much of a problem it is when you're in that situation, and I don't necessarily want to be in that situation again," she told BBC Sport.
Meanwhile, de Minaur's 6-4 6-2 loss at Queen's has left him short of match practice heading into Wimbledon, after he opted to take a break following the French Open. The Aussie star opted not to defend his title at Rosmalen in the Netherlands, taking a break before playing Queen's due to feeling burnt out by the relentless nature of the schedule.
He hadn't planned to playing either of the final warm-ups next week before Wimbledon - Eastbourne or Mallorca - but might need to rethink. "Obviously wasn't the kind of result I was hoping for coming here to Queen's," he said. "So back to the drawing board, and we're going to have to make some decisions (on where to play next)."
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Australia's women's No.1 Daria Kasatkina also suffered a surprise loss on Tuesday, continuing a poor start to her grass-court season. She suffered a 6-3 6-2 loss to Wang Xinyu at the Berlin Open, which followed another first-round loss to Sonay Kartal at Queen's last week.
with AAP
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