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Caroline Wozniacki calls out Miami Open after fans threaten her family


Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki unleashed a harsh rant criticizing officials at the Miami Open for what she says is a failure to address fans who were attacking her and her family with vulgar language and death threats.

In a lengthy Twitter post on Saturday morning, Wozniacki says her fiancé’s niece and nephew — who are 10 years old — were told to “shut the **** up” while others taunted the tennis player’s parents and crossed numerous lines of what’s acceptable at a sporting event.

Wozniacki was quick to point out that her reaction had nothing to do with her performance on Friday, an upset loss to Monica Puig in three sets, and she encouraged fans cheer on players. But the hostility shown towards her and her loved ones went too far.

This is clearly unacceptable at any event, let alone such intimate settings as tennis matches. Wozniacki deserves a response from officials in Miami and tennis needs to do a much better job of dealing with unruly fans.

So far, the Miami Open has been a thrilling tournament with numerous upsets including Wozniacki, Naomi Osaka and a near defeat of Venus Williams. For all of that to be overshadowed by the behavior of fans is as much a disservice to the quality of the competition as it is to the sport itself.

It doesn’t matter how much you pay to get in, there must be no tolerance for threatening language or actions at these events.

Caroline Wozniacki suffered an upset loss at the Miami Open but has more issues with the tournament’s security than she does her performance. (AP Photo)
Caroline Wozniacki suffered an upset loss at the Miami Open but has more issues with the tournament’s security than she does her performance. (AP Photo)

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo! Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!