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Watson to Twitter Trolls: You’re Not Very Smart

Watson to Twitter Trolls: You’re Not Very Smart



Heather Watson was in a terrible mood after losing a first-round marathon to Germany’s Annika Beck on Day 4. The Brit failed to convert three match points late in the third set and ended up falling, 3-6, 6-0, 12-10. In a bad mood, Watson says she wanted to "punish herself," so after the match she went on Twitter to see what was being said about her. It wasn’t pretty.

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It’s a common occurrence in tennis today—players getting virtual abuse from disgruntled punters who lose money gambling on tennis.

Watson has a message for them: You’re not very brave, and you’re not very smart. “I don't know why they bet on us because our results are all over the place,” Watson said. “First of all, that's not very smart from them.”

She added: "They're not brave enough to say it in person. That's why they hide behind a computer."

Watson admitted that she was in the locker room reading through Twitter with her compatriots Naomi Broady and Tara Moore, despite the fact that she knew nothing good could come of it. “It wasn't a good day. I just went on Twitter. There was plenty [of abuse],” she said.

According to the Independent, one abuser told Watson she “looked like a bus” and should go on a “crash diet.”

It’s not only the women who get abuse. One Twitter user told Andy Murray that he wished he had been killed in Dunblane in 2014. Dunblane is the sight of a school massacre that killed 16 children and one teacher in 1996. Murray was at the school at the time. Reportedly, Kevin Anderson received death threats after his first-round loss at Wimbledon. With all the positives of social media—sharing of information, endless entertainment, creative publicity—there is most certainly an ugly element that has proved difficult to quell.

Watson, 24, realizes that it’s a part of the game, and doesn’t typically let it bother her. “What can you do?” she said. “There's always going to be people saying stuff. It's, like, it comes with it. You've just got to deal with it.”

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