Tennis star Watson claims racist abuse

BRITISH tennis star Heather Watson, pictured, claims she receives racist comments online after she loses a match.
The 27-year-old, whose mum Michelle is from Maprik in East Sepik, said she had been called a “monkey” and one troll told her to “go back to the zoo”.
She said someone was arrested last week for sending abusive messages to players.
The British No.2, born and raised in Guernsey, said she would get “inundated” with negative comments and it was “impossible to deal with them”.
Speaking before her first match at Wimbledon in London, United Kingdom, on Monday, she said the messages “hurt” and usually came after she lost a match.
She told the Daily Mail: “I have had to deal with a handful of death threats. I’ve been called a monkey and told to go back to the zoo.
“That hurt. It’s just so disappointing and sad. It’s usually when I lose a match and mostly from men who have gambled on me to win. They pick on my race.
“The Women’s Tennis Association takes them very seriously and works with police to investigate and catch these people.”
Watson, who beat American Caty McNally in straight sets on Monday, said that she wishes the trolls would be brave enough to “say it to her face”.
According to the Daily Mail, about 32 years ago, Watson’s father, Ian, met Michelle in Port Moresby. The couple fell in love and decided to spend their lives together.
When his four-year work contract was up, they moved back to Europe and later settled in Guernsey, an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
The young family enjoyed an enviable lifestyle.
Home was a large house on the west coast and Heather was privately educated at Guernsey’s Ladies’ College.
She was ‘spotted’ playing tennis at the King’s Life Sports Club in the capital, St Peter Port, and quickly marked out for greatness.
As it became clear she had real promise, her family decided she should train at the £25,000-a-year (K107,300) Bollettieri Academy in Florida, United States.
So at the age of 12, Watson flew out to Florida. At first she boarded at the academy — named after American tennis coach Nicholas James Bollettieri — but at the age of 16, she decided to get her own place.
Bolletieri, 87, pioneered the idea of a tennis boarding school and helped develop many stars including former world No.1 Andre Agassi.
Soon afterwards, Michelle went to America to live with her daughter.
Ian recalled: “I cried my eyes out at Guernsey airport, seeing them both leave, but it was what Heather wanted and it was the best thing to do.” – The Sun