Stosur hits back after Dasha abuse
SAM Stosur has taken aim at social media trolls after countrywoman Daria Gavrilova was the subject of abuse yesterday.
Gavrilova was forced to block people from commenting on her Instagram account after the local favourite copped extreme heat from punters who had backed her to win against Elise Mertens.
Gavrilova (pictured) surrendered a 5-0 first-set lead to lose the second-round match 7-5 6-3.
She later revealed “fans” had added more insult to her injury, posting: “Thanks everyone who keeps supporting me and for all your sweet messages! And ... shhh to all the betting people ... I copped it hard last night. Only people I follow can comment on my posts now so my family doesn’t see all the ‘love’ I get.” Stosur, a WTA player council member, said yesterday she had limited her time on social media because of unwelcome comments.
“My social media, I haven’t been on it for a while and there’s a reason for that because this type of stuff can happen,” Stosur said.
“I applaud Dash. I think a lot of it’s probably due to gambling in tennis, they obviously lose some money on you and they’re not happy about it and they take it out on Twitter, Instagram or whatever platform they can.
“No matter what generation, how old you are, sport, no sport. There was a terrible story last week with the young girl from South Australia.
“It’d be great to see something be done with it, but probably the only thing you can to deal with it now is not to look at it.”
Stosur said it’s disappointing people feel the need to be vicious.
“I don’t think people quite understand sometimes the effect it can have when you get someone writing really nasty things,” she said.