At times, Jessica Pegula has resorted to turning off comments on social media during tournaments.
She’ll only let accounts she follows comment back.
Pegula’s direct messages are turned off altogether, she said, but she also has noticed users will just create a new account — with no followers, no profile picture, nothing — and keep writing threats.
And Pegula knows, regardless of how her match unfolds, people will have negative reactions toward the No. 6 player in the women’s tennis rankings.
France’s Caroline Garcia posted about the threats she received following her first-round loss in the U.S. Open earlier this week and specifically mentioned sports betting as a reason for them, and on Thursday evening, Pegula supported Garcia and said it “sucks” that they’ve needed to navigate the threats.
“It’s crazy how it’s become so normal and just to that sense, yeah, it’s not good,” Pegula said after she defeated unseeded Sofia Kenin 7-6 (4), 6-3 in her second-round match at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Thursday. “We know it all happens, but just, yeah, for Caroline to kind of call it out, especially after a loss, it’s unfortunate. It shouldn’t happen.”
![Jessica Pegula of of the US [6] returns a volley against Sofia Kenin of the US during their round 2 singles match on Day 4 of the 2024 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on Thursday August 29, 2024.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/6-returns-volley-sofia-kenin-88520407.jpg?w=1024)
Pegula recalled an exchange with the person who runs the Instagram account for Ready 24 — Pegula’s skincare products — and was “gravely concerned” with some of the comments Pegula received on the page.
Pegula, the daughter of Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, also feels bad when people such as her grandparents go on her Instagram page and notices the threats.
“You know, you’re getting a lot of really bad messages,” the Ready 24 Instagram account coordinator told Pegula, and she just laughed and told her not to worry.
“It’s not normal,” Pegula said Thursday, “but it’s totally normal for us. It’s so bad that it’s kind of come to that point.”
Garcia, who is ranked No. 30 in the WTA rankings and lost to Mexico’s Renata Zarazua on Tuesday, posted some of the specific messages she received and wrote that she worried about younger players who “might be affected by this hate.”
“It’s something that I don’t think people really realize because we’re so used to it,” Pegula said. “I mean, I just don’t even let anyone send me messages. … We all know it’s from people that are betting, and it doesn’t matter win or lose, they’re going to say something.”