The WTA seemingly addressed the Paula Badosa controversy in silence as players received an email in which they were warned about "distasteful" social media posts and that it "will not be tolerated."
ADVERTISEMENT
In late September and early November, the Spanish tennis star competed at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, where she made the semifinal before losing to Coco Gauff. After her campaign came to an end, technical coach Pol Toledo Blanco posted some photos on Instagram and in one the world No. 12 could be seen using chopstics to pull her eyes in a selfie.
It didn't take long before Badosa started receiving criticism and backlash as some fans accused her of "racism" toward Asian people. The photo - which was later deleted - drew lots of negative attention on the four-time WTA champion.
Then, came the Magda Linette case and the Pole posting a picture from Wuhan - the place where the COVID outbreak started - and captioning the post: "The virus database has been updated." The public reaction was the same as in the Badosa case.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to a report, WTA CEO Portia Archer sent an email to players, in which the associated made it clear that they don't want athletes to be posting anything that could be interpreted in a way that negatively impacts the image of the WTA brand. In the email obtained by a British paper, no player was directly mentioned but it definitely looked like a response to some of the controversial situation that lately occurred.
Tournaments and countries host us as their guests at considerable effort and expense, and it is of absolute importance to respect the local culture of the regions we compete in, all of which make our global Tour a success. Distasteful content of any kind (such as images, references, text, video) relating to the culture, history, or hurtful stereotypes of a group of people or a region is inconsistent with the values the WTA represents and will not be tolerated," Archer said in the email, via British paper i.
ADVERTISEMENT
Not only do such harmful actions generate negative coverage and reflect poorly for the athlete, but they also impact womens professional tennis as a whole, along with having negative effects on the hard-working team and staff that organize WTA events. These actions can also pose a risk around the entire tournament, with security, transport, and other areas all put in potential jeopardy. There is no place for this in the WTA.
How Badosa responded to the criticism?
After fans noticed the post in question and accused the former world No. 2 of racism, she insisted that it wasn't her intention to imitate the Asians, mock them, or anything like that.
"Oh no, please don't get it that way. Never thought it would get interpreted this way, we weren't even imitating Asian people. I was playing around with my face and wrinkles. I love Asia it's one of my favorite people and have plenty of Asian friends. They are the kindest," Badosa wrote on Instagram at the time.
ADVERTISEMENT
Unfortunately for the Spaniard, her initial explanation wasn't really accepted. Ultimately, the 27-year-old admitted that taking a selfie in that way wasn't right but remained adamant that she didn't mean to be racist.
"Hey guys! Really sorry didnt know this was offensive towards racism. My mistake. I take full responsibility. This mistakes will make me learn for next time. Hope you understand. I love you all," she said in another post at the time.
However, the criticism and backlash didn't end there and it kept going. That led to Badosa accusing a certain group of people of "bullying" her.
"Because all this bullying is insane and its ridiculous. The story was finish when I came out and apologize and took the entire responsibility of it. Move on. Jesus. Its really tiring to see constantly hate and criticism on this social media. I had an issue, YES. But after that people and fans in China treated me amazing. Because they UNDERSTAND people can be wrong, recognize it and correct to be better next time and have another chance. But I still dont understand what is your point. You can constantly offend and bully people on social media and thats okay? This needs to STOP. Bye," she wrote in a since-deleted post on X in late October.
ADVERTISEMENT
Even if Badosa's intention wasn't to poke fun at anyone, she learned the hard way that posting things that could be interpreted in multiple ways isn't the best thing to do. And she will certainly be more cautious when making posts in the future.
