Tennis star fires back after fans at Miami Open 'threaten' her family
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki has claimed that her family was the target of verbal abuse and threats during her loss to Monica Puig in the Miami Open on Friday night.
Wozniacki, the current No. 2 player in the world, fell 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 in her opening match but says her loss doesn’t compare to what her family had to deal with while in the stands.
She posted a note to Twitter detailing the alleged abuse, which included death threats against her parents. Wozniacki also said the the young niece and nephew of her fiancé, former NBA player David, were cursed at by fans.
— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) March 24, 2018
“I lost a tough match to a great opponent and friend Monica Puig,” Wozniacki said.
“I am fully aware that tennis is a game of wins and losses. However, during the match last night people in the crowd threatened my family, wished death threats on my mom and dad, called me names that I can’t repeat here and told my fiance’s niece and nephew (who are 10 years old) to sit down and shut the f— up, meanwhile security and staff did nothing to prevent this and even accepted this to take place.”
Lee also spoke out about the atmosphere of the tournament, echoing his fiancée’s senitments.
Disgusting atmosphere, hope something can be done to prevent this from happening again! https://t.co/fi1mcRqLcw
— David Lee (@Dlee042) March 24, 2018
Tournament director James Blake described the crowd as “loud and passionate” but said security was unaware of any threats being made. He released a statement claiming that if security had been notified, then the situation would have been handled differently.
Wozniacki and Lee went public with their relationship on Valentine’s Day 2017. Lee retired from the NBA in November after 12 seasons.
That same month, the couple announced their engagement in and appeared together at Serena Williams’ wedding two weeks later.
Wozniacki then won the first Grand Slam of her career a short time later with a three-set victory over Simona Halep at the Australian Open earlier this year. That enabled her to regain the world No. 1 ranking.
After failing to even advance to the finals of her next two tournaments, Wozniacki dropped to No. 2 in the world.
The Miami Open represents the fourth tournament Wozniacki has competed in since winning the Australian Open and becoming the top-ranked player in the world.
Meanwhile, it was biggest victory for Puig since she won gold at the 2016 summer Olympics.
“It felt like Rio all over again,” Puig said, according to AFP. “I have been waiting for this and to finally start finding myself again.”
Puig is half-Cuban and was born in Puerto Rico. She is one of the most popular tennis players in South Florida and currently lives in Miami.
She will face the 52nd-ranked player in the world, Maria Sakkari, on Sunday.
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