Coco Gauff got backing from a major supporter who couldn’t stay silent after the tennis star faced a wave of racist abuse following her China Open victory.
The two-time Grand Slam champion stopped play after electronic advertising boards flickered during a rally against 16-year-old Chinese player Sun Xinran last Monday, prompting the umpire to order a replay.
Gauff won the disputed point and went on to secure the match, but online critics accused her of cheating.
Gauff fired back, explaining that she followed the rules and had no control over the faulty boards. She also condemned the racial slurs flooding her messages, insisting fans could disagree with her without resorting to racism.
Now, the United Nations’ human rights office has condemned the behavior and called for solidarity against racism and sexism.
Led by High Commissioner Volker Türk, the office issued its statement on social media Saturday.
“Racist messages such as those targeting #tennis player @CocoGauff online are appalling and illustrate that Black female athletes are specifically targeted for vitriol and racial abuse,” read a message on X.
It continued, “There is no place in sport for racial or sexist slurs and abuse. Players, coaches, and sports bodies need to stand up for those facing such attacks and fans need to push back against those who sully sport with racism and sexism.”
But the delayed response didn’t sit well with many, especially given the Women’s Tennis Association’s silence.
“It’s a shame that the @wta have not come out with a similar statement,” blasted one X user, while another said, “@WTA y’all a little too quiet for me!!!”
The post also sparked further backlash, as many kept calling Gauff a “cheater” and a “nigr.”
A third added, “And of course this statement has triggered the racist a—holes on here, totally proving the point. Smh! There’s a place in hell waiting for a lot of you losers on here. Karma will get y’all one way or the other.”
The trouble started with a flicker of light.
Late in the first set of Gauff’s 7-5, 6-1 third-round win over China’s Sun Xinran at the China Open, the electronic advertising boards lining the court began glitching mid-rally, according to CBS News.
Xinran appeared to be on the verge of winning the point when Gauff stopped playing, as seen in this X post, and asked for a video review.
The chair umpire ruled the point would be replayed. The moment carried extra weight because of who stood on the other side of the net.
Xinran won the U.S. Open junior title in New York last month and was making her official WTA Tour debut on a wild card from tournament organizers.
Gauff won the replayed point and, per Yahoo Sports, took nine of the next 10 games to close out the match. Xinran was visibly emotional on the court, as Gauff apologized to her at the net.
That should have been the end of it. Instead, Gauff says her mentions and DMs filled up with racist abuse. She finally responded directly under a post on X that called her a racial slur.
“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” she wrote. “The amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I’m not a cheater or a thief.”
In a longer follow-up, Gauff walked through her thinking. She said she noticed the boards flicker early in the point but wasn’t sure what she’d seen, and that players are told before matches to keep playing because anything can be challenged once the point is over.
The tennis champ added that if she had lost the point, Sun would have been “completely in her right” to ask for a replay, too.
“When it flickered again I raised my hands before she hit her shot because this is when I was sure I saw the light flicker and it wasn’t my mind doing tricks lol,” she explained.
She also pushed back on the “think pieces” painting her as unfair. “I did not make them, I think it’s weird i’m getting hate for following the rules,” Gauff wrote, before praising Sun as an “incredible talent and player.”
“I did not like to see her so emotional as I’ve been there and I really understand what it is like,” she continued, “but this is just the beginning of an incredible career.”
Fans quickly rallied behind Gauff and her response, saying, “Nothing to apologize for here Coco. Those who follow the sport know your integrity. Keep grinding.”
Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Gauff. She previously called out racist comments she received after a loss at the Madrid Open in April, and in 2025, she described online abuse as a “given” for women in the sport.
That same month, she fired back at critics who picked apart her natural 4C hair in a Miu Miu campaign, telling young Black girls their hair is “literally fine the way it is.” Back in 2023, fans accused umpires of giving her the same unfair treatment Serena Williams faced.
And in 2020, she used her platform to push for racial equality while the tour was on pause.
None of it has slowed her down. Gauff now turns her attention to Belgium’s Elise Mertens, whom she’ll face Wednesday with a spot in the China Open quarterfinals on the line.
