At French Open, Sloane Stephens says racism against athletes has 'only gotten worse'
American women's tennis player Sloane Stephens said racist attacks against athletes has only intensified recently and added that artificial intelligence software designed to thwart hateful messages has little effect.
"Yes, it's obviously been a problem my entire career," Stephens said Monday at the French Open after defeating Karolína Plíšková. "It has never stopped. If anything, it's only gotten worse."
Stephens, who is Black, said she has not used software that is being offered to players in this year's French Open that is designed to filter offensive social comments and prevent them from ever reaching their targets.
"I did hear about the software," Stephens said. "I have not used it. I have a lot of obviously key words banned on Instagram and all of these things, but that doesn't stop someone from just typing in an asterisk or typing it in a different way, which obviously software most of the time doesn't catch."
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Though she didn't address a specific case, Stephens said it was concerning when the FBI has had to investigate racist behavior against athletes.
Stephens, 30, is the World Tennis Association's 30th-ranked women singles player. She is looking to win her first ever French Open title after reaching the final in 2018, before losing to Simona Halep.
"Obviously it's been something that I have dealt with my whole career," she said. "I think that, like I said, it's only continued to get worse, and people online have the free rein to say and do whatever they want behind fake pages, which is obviously very troublesome.
"It's something I have had to deal with my whole career and something I will continue to deal with, I'm sure. That's that."
AI software at French Open designed to protect players from racist posts
Tournament officials at Roland Garros announced ahead of the start of the 2023 French Open that participating players would have access to Bodyguard.ai technology. Players interested in using the software need to scan a QR code so that the software can monitor and regulate public comments made on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among other social media platforms.
The software will then prepare reports for the French Tennis Federation to alert them to potential attacks and can even "provide extracts of messages and the identities of the culprits in the event of legal action."
Which other prominent athletes have faced racist behavior?
The most recent notable case was Real Madrid's star Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior, who was met with racist taunts before getting off a team bus May 21 ahead of a game at Valencia. Then, during the match, fans continued the taunts and directed chants of "mono" − Spanish for "monkey" − at him in the 1-0 Valencia victory.
After the game, Vinícius posted a message on Instagram in which he called Spain a "country of racists" and called repeated actions of racism against him "inhuman." He also called on Spain and La Liga to do more to eradicate these behaviors, of which he has been the target several times.
La Liga president Javier Tebas Medrano, however, said in a response that it was "unfair" to label the country and the Spanish football league as racist.
On Thursday, four people were arrested in Spain in connection with an effigy of Vinícius that was hung off a highway bridge in Madrid.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sloane Stephens says racism against athletes has 'only gotten worse'
