Jessica Pegula sometimes turns off her social media comments during tournaments.
She will only allow comments to be replied to by accounts she follows.
Pegula said that while she has turned off direct messaging completely, she has noticed that some users are creating new accounts with no followers or profile pictures and continuing to write threatening messages.
And Pegula knows that no matter how the match plays out, people are going to have a negative reaction to the No. 6 ranked player in women's tennis.
France's Caroline Garcia posted about the threats she received after her first-round loss at the U.S. Open earlier this week, specifically citing sports betting as the reason, and on Thursday night Pegula supported Garcia, saying it “worst” she had to deal with the threats.
“It's weird that it's become the norm and it's definitely not good in that sense,” Pegula said after beating unseeded Sofia Kenin 7-6 (4), 6-3 in her second-round match on Thursday at Louis Armstrong Stadium. “I know this happens a lot, but it's unfortunate for Caroline to point it out, especially after she lost. It shouldn't happen.”
Pegula recalled an exchange with the person who runs the Instagram account for the company's Lady24 skin care line, and was “deeply concerned” by some of the comments she received on the page.
Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, said she also feels bad when grandparents or others visit her Instagram page and notice the threats.
“We're getting a lot of really nasty messages,” Lady24's Instagram account coordinator told Pegula, to which she simply laughed and told him not to worry.
“This is not normal,” Pegula said Thursday, “but it's completely normal for us. Things are so bad that this is the situation we're in.”
Garcia, ranked 30th in the WTA rankings and who lost to Mexico's Renata Zarazua on Tuesday, posted some of the messages she had received, writing that she was worried about young players “who may be affected by this hate.”
“I think we're so used to it that people don't really notice,” Pegula said. “I mean, I'm not supposed to send any messages to anybody. … People know it's coming from people who are betting, and whether they win or lose, they're going to say something.”
