Things can change very quickly on the tennis court. Ask 19-year-old Alex Michelsen, who suffered a humiliating defeat during his maiden main draw appearance at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The American sensation was up against Lloyd Harris in the opening round of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. After winning the first two sets comfortably, things went out of hand for Michelsen as he succumbed to defeat after losing the final-set tiebreaker. It was a heartbreaking loss for the 19-year-old, as it was a case of so near, yet so far for him. Nonetheless, he has a chance for redemption later today, but first, he must face the heat from fans.

Michelsen will be up against his compatriot, Marcos Giron, in the summit clash of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. His run-up to the finals comes just days after he faced online hatred for losing from a winning position at Wimbledon. After his stint in Mallorca before the Wimbledon Championships, the American sensation shared glimpses of his time there on his official Instagram handle. However, things took a turn for the worse after he bowed out of the Wimbledon first round.

Fans reacted angrily to his social media post, with some even throwing brutal comments at Michelsen. While on one hand he was asked to ‘pack his bag’ after losing from a winning position, some fans demanded that he quit tennis after a shocking first-round display at Wimbledon. Additionally, he also received brutal comments from a section of fans for choking badly at the grass court slam.

However, Michelsen is not the only one to have faced heat on social media due to poor performance. Even top players like Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek have been victims of it in the past. Earlier this year, Alcaraz opened up about how difficult it was to deal with online hatred.

When Carlos Alcaraz got real about social media bullying

While Alcaraz has become a fan-favorite owing to his back-to-back title wins at the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships, there has been a section of notorious tennis fans who haven’t been happy seeing his success. As a result, the Spaniard went through online hatred from such fans. During an interview, he revealed what he went through after watching such brutal comments from fans.

Alcaraz revealed, “You know, it’s difficult to deal with it, but, yes, that’s what I’m trying to do, to stay away from everything, be myself and enjoy every time that I step on the court…It was difficult for me to deal with it, but I try to stay away for everything and try to, you know, enjoy the court. I think that’s the most important thing for me.”

In a world where sporting superstars are followed so closely, there is no room for online hatred as it can significantly affect the players’ mental health. We have seen players like Naomi Osaka succumb to it in the past. Moreover, players like Michelsen, Alcaraz, and Swiatek still have years left in their tennis careers. Thus, it is beyond time that social media hatred be stopped immediately and platforms like Instagram and Twitter step up their action against such fans making these comments.