Coco Gauff is calling out the abuse of her nation’s expertise following her win over Sun Xinran at the Beijing Open on Monday. During the match, Gauff stopped playing mid-point after the LED lights next to the court flickered.
The follow-up came with Gauff trailing 4-5 in the first set. In the middle of the fight – just after the ball is returned – Gauff is fixed on the board on the LED screens that run across the court switched. A hand shot before Xinran returned the ball, which dripped into the point.
Gauff asked for an email review, in which it was determined that the point would be reported. He won this point around this time and then the next nine games to win 10 to close from Xinran. 16 years Xinran movement was in court.
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At the end of the match, Gauff apologized to Xinran in the net.
Although Gauff has received racist abuse in his social media activities. It got to the point where the tennis star wanted to respond publicly, saying that the amount of racist comments thrown his way after the match was “insane”.
Read his full comment — which came in response to post X in which Gauff was called a racial slur:
“Hey everyone, you can hate me or disagree with what happened without being racist. I got racist comments/dms in a frenzy for a few hours. After all, I’m not a fraud or a thief.”
He then shared a full explanation of his actions and why he stopped playing at that moment. Gauff said he noticed the flashing lights earlier in the race and decided to stop playing after he saw the lights flashing again. He explained that the challenge point was within the rules and he did nothing wrong by pushing for that point to review.
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Gauff said he apologized to Xinran on the net, and added, “I don’t like to see her so emotional.”
Gauff has fought racist comments and been abused many times during his career. In 2025, she said, online abuse will be “a given” for women in sports. In April, he received racist comments following a loss at the Madrid Open.
With her win Monday, Gauff advanced to the round of 16 at the Beijing Open. Elise Mertens will take the test on Wednesday and take it in the quarters.