Coco Gauff is calling out racial abuse she’s experienced following her win over Sun Xinran at the Beijing Open on Monday. During the match, Gauff halted play mid-point after LED lights next to the court flickered.
The sequence occurred with Gauff trailing 4-5 in the first set. In the middle of a rally — just after she returned the ball — Gauff noticed the advertisement on the LED screens that run alongside the court switched. She threw her hands up before Xinran returned the ball, which dropped in for a point.
Gauff asked for a video review, in which it was determined the point would be replayed. She won that point this time around and then would up winning the nine of the next 10 games to close out Xinran. The 16-year-old Xinran was emotional on the court.
At the conclusion of the match, Gauff apologized to Xinran at the net.
Despite that, Gauff received racist abuse on social media for her actions. It reached a point where the tennis star decided to publicly respond, saying the amount of racist comments sent her way after the match were “insane.”
Her full comment — which came in a response to an X post in which Gauff was called a racial slur — read:
“hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist. the amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I ‘m not a cheater or a thief.”
“hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist. the amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I ‘m not a cheater or a thief.”
She then shared a full explanation of her actions and why she halted play in that moment. Gauff said she noticed the flickering board earlier in the rally and decided to halt play after she saw the lights flicker a second time. She explained that challenging a point is within the rules and she did nothing wrong by pushing for that point to go to a review.
Gauff said she apologized to Xinran at the net and added, “I did not like to see her so emotional.”
Gauff has battled racist comments and abuse multiple times over her career. In 2025, she said online abuse was a “given” for women in the sport. In April, she called out racist comments she received following a loss at the Madrid Open.
With her win Monday, Gauff advanced to the Round of 16 at the Beijing Open. She’ll take on Elise Mertens on Wednesday to try and make it into the quarterfinals.
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