Sloane Stephens gets hate messages after loss to Angelique Kerber at US Open 2021

Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens was the subject of racial abuse online following her third-round loss to Angelique Kerber on Saturday. Stephens went down to Kerber 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York. Following the loss, the American tennis star took to Instagram and shared a story talking about her social media being flooded with abusive messages.

US Open 2021: Sloane Stephens receive abusive messages

Sloane Stephens shared a screenshot of the message where people have directed racial slurs towards her and have also threatened her of physical and sexual abuse and more.  World No. 66 in her message wrote that she received more than 2,000 of such messages from people who were upset from the result.

She said “I am human. After last night’s match, I got [more than 2,000] messages of abuse/anger from people upset by yesterday’s result. It’s so hard to read messages like these, but I’ll post a few so you guys can see what it’s like after a loss.” She further added  “This type of hate is so exhausting and never-ending,” she wrote. This isn’t talked about enough, but it really freaking sucks. 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 on here, but it’s not always smiles and roses.”

US Open 2021: Recap of Sloane Stephens vs Angelique Kerber match

The 16th-seeded Kerber beat Stephens for only the second time in seven career matchups. Stephens had dominated the head to head record with five straight wins over Kerber dating back to 2012. The American had the match under control right from the start racing to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Kerber did fight back to level the scores t 5-5 before Stephens closed the set with a score of 7-5. Apart from the dominating start in the first set, Stephens was completely outplayed by Kerber who took control of the match in the next two sets as she went to claim it  6-2, 6-3 and will now take on Leylah Fernandez who upset defending champion Naomi Osaka in round three.