Coco Gauff has hit back at a wave of racist online abuse directed at her following her China Open round of 32 victory over Sun Xinran on 6 October 2026, firmly stating she is 'not a cheater or a thief' after a disputed point replay in the first set ignited fury among a section of fans.

What Happened on Court

The 22-year-old American defeated Sun 7-5, 6-1 to advance to the round of 16, but a moment during the opening set drew widespread controversy. Gauff was serving at 4-5, with the score at 15-15, when she raised an issue with the chair umpire over flickering LED advertising boards courtside. The point was duly replayed under tournament rules, Gauff won the game, and eventually clinched the set 7-5.

Critics on social media — predominantly targeting the outcome in a match involving a Chinese home favourite — accused Gauff of unsportsmanlike conduct. Within hours, she said, racist comments and direct messages flooded her inbox.

Gauff's Response: 'Those Are the Rules'

Gauff addressed the backlash directly in a reply on X (formerly Twitter). '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 wrote.

She then walked through the sequence of events, explaining that players are explicitly briefed before matches that they are permitted to flag a distraction after a point concludes and request a replay. 'I saw it flicker in the beginning of the point but was not sure if that is what I actually saw,' Gauff said. She added that she raised her hand visibly before her opponent's return shot only when she was certain the board had flickered a second time — meaning the challenge came while play was still live, not as a tactical afterthought.

'If I would've lost the point, my opponent is also free to do the same thing and ask for a replay, and she would've been completely in her right to do so,' Gauff noted, underscoring that the rule applies equally to both players. She dismissed the criticism as misplaced: 'The think pieces and calling me unfair is ridiculous when those are the rules. I did not make them.'

A Wider Problem at the China Open

Notably, the flickering LED panels were not isolated to Gauff's match. In the men's quarterfinal between Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic, Zverev similarly requested a point replay after being distracted by the same malfunctioning advertising boards. The recurring issue points to a venue-side technical failure rather than any individual player's conduct, lending further weight to Gauff's defence.

Broader Context: Race and Sport

The incident is the latest in a pattern of high-profile athletes facing racist targeting on social media after contentious moments in international competition. Gauff — a US Open champion and one of the sport's most prominent young stars — has previously spoken about racial discrimination in tennis. This episode, coming at a tournament in a market where the home crowd's reaction carries added emotional weight, amplifies the scrutiny around how governing bodies and platforms respond to abuse directed at Black athletes competing abroad.

The WTA and tournament organisers had not issued a formal statement on the abuse directed at Gauff at the time of reporting. How they respond — or whether they do at all — will be closely watched.