Facebook abuse after Kartal defeat 'shows routine misogyny' faced by female players

For Sonay Kartal, there was disappointment but a sense of pride as she walked off Centre Court to a standing ovation when her fairytale Wimbledon run came to an end.

- Emine Sinmaz

Footage of the bittersweet moment, posted on SW19's official Facebook page, prompted praise for the 23-year-old British No 3 - and a slew of cruel comments about her appearance.

Campaigners said it was sportswomen “who uniquely face the horrific burden of routine misogynistic attacks and threats” after tennis players including Katie Boulter and Jodie Burrage have spoken out against trolls in recent weeks.

Yesterday, about 1,000 comments on two of Wimbledon's Facebook posts about Kartal, who reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time, had been deleted. But hateful comments had remained online for at least 24 hours.

A spokesperson for the All England Club said: “Wimbledon's social analytics tool automatically rates comments by sentiment and flags posts with a high proportion of negativity.