
Please try another search
(Reuters) - France's Gael Monfils revealed on Friday that he had been racially abused on Instagram following his early exit at the Italian Open in Rome.
Fifth seed Monfils, who had received a bye into the second round, lost 6-2 6-4 to Dominik Koepfer on Thursday after which he received the abusive comments as personal messages, with one fan calling him a "stupid black monkey" and "slave".
World number nine Monfils, 34, was playing the German, who is ranked 97, in his first match in nearly seven months after the season resumed following the COVID-19 hiatus.
"Unfortunately I gave it everything, but was very bad," Monfils wrote over one of the screenshots where a fan accused him of not trying hard enough. "Not a good evening, but I hope to come back stronger."
"You don't deserve your top 10 ranking," one fan said.
The Italian Open is a tune-up tournament for the French Open which begins on Sept. 27 at Roland Garros.
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.