Former US Open Champion Sloane Stephens says she has had to fight her way through racism throughout her tennis career.
Stephens opened up about racism following her first-round win over Karolina Pliskova in the French Open on Monday.
“Yes, it’s obviously been a problem my entire career. It has never stopped. If anything, it’s only gotten worse,” Sloane said responding to a question.
Stephens said that using preventive measures on social media has not stopped racist abuse from surfacing on her timelines.
“I did hear about the software. I have not used it,” she explained. “I have a lot of obviously keywords banned on Instagram and all of these things, but that doesn’t stop someone from just typing in an asterisk or typing it in a different way, which obviously software most of the time doesn’t catch.”
“I mean, obviously when there is FBI investigations going on with what people are saying to you online, it’s very serious,” Stephens who turned pro in 2009 said.
“Obviously it’s been something that I have dealt with my whole career. I think that, like I said, it’s only continued to get worse, and people online have the free rein to say and do whatever they want behind fake pages, which is obviously very troublesome.
“It’s something I have had to deal with my whole career and something I will continue to deal with, I’m sure. That’s that.”
