Victoria Azarenka pleaded with people to stop harassing athletes on social media and
Chris Evert backed her in that initiative.
Azarenka is part of the WTA Player's Council and in her own words, she takes that role very seriously. In her capacity as a seasoned pro and member of that council, Azarenka took to social media to question people who send abuse towards athletes on social media.
She wrote:
"I’m sure I’m not the first person to ask this on social media, but why do people follow you and then write hateful comments to you? Like shouldn’t it be as easy as just unfollow and go on about your life."
Chris Evert backed her in that regard retweeting her post and adding a caoption of her own:
"That’s a great question."
Tennis players face frequent abuse on social media, particularly by people from the betting sphere. Many have talked about it before but it's a very tricky thing to combat.