Daria Saville has opened up about dealing with online bullying after Marketa Vondrousova shared her experiences with hateful comments.
The reigning Wimbledon champion Vondrousova suffered a surprisingly early exit at the WTA China Open this week after she was defeated in the first round by Anhelina Kalinina. Although the Czech player dominated the first set, winning it 6-1, the Ukrainian came back to win the match 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
After this, Vondrousova took to social media to share her frustration at those harassing her online in the wake of her defeat. She posted screenshots of several spiteful comments on her Instagram story along with the caption "Here we go again."
Following this, Saville shared her experiences of having to avoid trolls on social media while competing at tournaments and showed her support for the World No. 8.
"Part of my pre-match routine is to turn off comments on my IG [Instagram]. I also set my messages so literally no one can reach me which sucks cause I’ve missed so many messages from players and brands," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Australian player was responding to a post by Mario Boccardi highlighting the problem players have with online harassment.
"Easy to tell players “Ignore them”, but I honestly think it’s very difficult to not highlight how big of an issue the online abuse is," Boccardi wrote.
Vondrousova has had a successful season for the most part. The 24-year-old's victory at Wimbledon saw her win her first-ever Grand Slam title. She then went on to make the quarter-final of the US Open, but an arm injury meant that she had to withdraw from doubles.
The WTA 1000 tournament in China was her first outing since her run at Flushing Meadows last month.
Part of my pre match routine is to turn off comments on my IG. I also set my messages so literally no one can reach me which sucks cause I’ve missed so many messages from players and brands 🙃
Easy to tell players “Ignore them”, but I honestly think it’s very difficult to not highlight how big of an issue the online abuse is Marketa Vondrousova has just shared this IG story after losing to Anhelina Kalinina in Beijing
