Barbados’ top tennis player Darian King said he’s accustomed to dealing with racial abuse and derogatory comments after posting on Instagram the most recent death threats he received from disgruntled gamblers.
“It comes with the sport, unfortunately, and I have gotten used to it, but I don’t believe in people betting on sports, especially tennis because tennis is always played on the day, no matter your ranking.
“We don’t ever play to lose and people must understand this is a job for us and I’m just here trying to work through this process,” he said.
“You just have to blank that out and forget that stuff, but we’re told to report these types of things because you really don’t want to be seeing these racist comments and threats to your family.
“I’m not sure if there is anything the authorities can do about it, but it would be great if we didn’t have to deal with it because this is a job like anything else and one that comes with absolutely no guarantees,” King added.
The world No.174 was speaking days after he took to Facebook to highlight a series of profanity-laced tirades from two different Instagram accounts accusing him of match fixing. (JM)
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