‘You Have to Be a Pretty Dedicated Person to Leave A..’ – 19-Year-Old Coco Gauff Takes On Haters With a Smashing Message Days After French Open’s Mental Health Move

“Your love makes me strong. Your hatred makes me unstoppable.” This famous quote attributed to Portuguese soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo makes all the more sense in a world pestered by increasing online hatred and cyberbullying. And more often than not, celebrities and sports persons have to bear the brunt. World Sports Network (WSN), an independent online sports and betting guide, recently released a report revealing the appalling amount of online abuse received by tennis stars. Many top-ranked tennis players have made this list, including American WTA star Coco Gauff.

Keeping this in mind, Roland Garros has come up with a technology-based solution that will aim to check the online hate received by players on their social media accounts. What was Coco Gauff’s take on this move? Let’s find out.

Coco Gauff speaks about the importance of curbing online hate

Roland Garros has announced the introduction of the Bodyguard.ai app for its participants looking to restrict online hate messages. At her French Open pre-tournament press conference, Coco Gauff was asked about cyberbullying and her reaction to the Bodyguard.ai technology. “Yeah, I saw the Bodyguard.ai app. I didn’t apply it to any of my socials. I’m not on Twitter,… I’m not on Facebook,” she answered.

Adding on, she said, “Instagram, I just filter everything… messages I can only see are people who have followed me for some time. I would say a couple of weeks I think I set it to. You have to be a pretty dedicated person to leave a hate comment. That means you would have to follow me for a while to do that.”

Coco Gauff has also hailed the French Open for ‘stepping in’ and trying to look after the mental health of its players. According to the WSN research, Gauff ranks quite high on the list of most hated WTA players online. The data revealed that Novak Djokovic received the most online abuse among ATP stars, while Aryna Sabalenka faced the most hate as far as WTA players are concerned.

How does the Bodyguard.ai app work?

The governing body of Roland Garros, the French Tennis Federation, joined hands with tech solution company Bodyguard.ai to help monitor the players’ social media accounts throughout the tournament. The app will moderate comments and messages in real time, in a bid to curb abusive comments on the players’ posts and profiles. Following this, the app may be used to extract reports on the number of messages received and deleted or to track the accounts of abusers.

What do you think about French Open’s decision to introduce the Bodyguard app? Do you think it will protect the players from cyberbullying? Let us know in the comments.