Sloane Stephens, an American tennis player, said she got abusive and threatening texts after losing to Angelique Kerber in the third round of the US Open on Friday.
Saturday, Stephens posted on her Instagram story: "I am human, and after last night's match, I received over 2,000 messages of hate and rage from people who were disappointed with yesterday's result. It's difficult to read letters like this, but I'll publish a couple so you can get a sense of how it feels after a loss..."
Stephens revealed that she had received many texts.
One message read: "I promise to find you and destroy your leg so hard that you can't walk anymore @sloanestephens! Fixer and corruption like you must be ban forever in jail! I hope you enjoyed your last moments on court today."
"This type of hate is so exhausting and never ending," Stephens wrote. "This isn't talked about enough, but it freaking sucks."
Despite the hateful remarks, the 2017 US Open winner stated that she prefers "good emotions over bad thoughts."
"I'm happy to have people in my corner who support me. I'm choosing positive vibes over negative ones. I choose to show you guys happiness here, but it's not always smiles and roses."
The 28-year-old did share some positive messages on her Instagram story.
"Let me say I really like the way Sloane is progressing and where are we heading to. Feel super confident about the next steps," read one message, while another said: "My Queen, I had a flashback. Proud of your work today. You did what I expected you to do. We love you."
Instagram investigated the accounts that Stephens identified and deleted those that were found to be in violation of company standards.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, issued the following statement: "Sloane Stephens was subjected to racial abuse following the US Open, which is disgusting. No one should be subjected to racist abuse in any form, and posting such on Instagram is against our policies.
" In addition to our efforts to delete comments and accounts that regularly violate our policies, there are safety tools like Comment Filters and Message Controls that can ensure that no one is exposed to this sort of abuse." There is no single solution that can solve this problem overnight, but we are dedicated to doing everything we can to keep our community safe from abuse."
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