American star says abuse of athletes has 'gotten worse' despite new software tool

American tennis star Sloane Stephens says new software designed to limit abuse of athletes is not working.

In fact she believes she's being subjected to more racist abuse than ever via her social media accounts.

Roland-Garros this year is offering players access to a new toll which is supposed to censor abusive or racist comments.

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"I did hear about the software. I have not used it," Stephens told media after winning her first-round match against No.16 seed Karolina Pliskova.

"I have a lot of obviously key words banned on Instagram and all of these things, but that doesn't stop someone from just typing in an asterisk or typing it in a different way, which obviously software most of the time doesn't catch."

Social media abuse is an issue sporting organisations - and wider communities - are grappling with worldwide.

NRL superstar Latrell Mitchell has regularly called out racist comments directed at him online, and in 2021 two men were arrested in New South Wales for targeting the South Sydney player.

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 live and free on 9now.

Stephens, 30, is sadly resigned to the fact the issue may never be stamped out completely.

"It has never stopped. If anything, it's only gotten worse," she said.

"I mean, obviously when there is FBI investigations going on with what people are saying to you online, it's very serious. Obviously it's been something that I have dealt with my whole career.

"I think that, like I said, it's only continued to get worse and people online have the free rein to say and do whatever they want behind fake pages, which is obviously very troublesome.

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"But, yeah, it's something I have had to deal with my whole career and something I will continue to deal with, I'm sure. That's that."

Stephens is set to meet Varvara Gracheva in round two of Roland-Garros.

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