China’s Zheng Qinwen was the alleged victim of racist abuse from a spectator who repeatedly yelled “yellow banana” during her landmark US Open win over Donna Vekic.
Qinwen beat Vekic on Monday in the latest-ever finish to a women’s match at the tournament – 2.15am – less than a month after defeating the same opponent to win Olympic gold.
But the fallout from her fourth-round triumph at Flushing Meadows has been dominated in her homeland by claims she was racially abused during the match.
According to Chinese media, the “yellow banana” slur was picked up by courtside microphones, with footage of the incident becoming the top trending topic on Weibo before being removed from the platform.
The slur was said to have first been heard in the third game of the second set, during which Zheng won a point before looking up to the stands and saying: “I will beat you.”
Later footage was then said to have shown Zheng preparing to serve as someone appeared to chant “yellow banana, yellow”, sparking a reaction from her coach, Pere Riba.
Clips of the alleged abuse were removed from Weibo, with Chinese social media platforms known for deleting posts that include racist content.
It was also reported that Zheng was forced to stop her serve on two occasions during the match when a man of Asian appearance walked from the stands to his seat.
Zheng was said to have been irked during the second stoppage as she stood with her hands on her hips waiting for the man to sit down.
Zheng made no mention of having been abused in her on-court interview after Monday’s match, instead thanking those who had stayed until 2.15am to watch.
“Thanks to the fans who are not sleeping tonight and support me here,” she said. “She’s [Vekic] really tough to play on hard court, I feel today she would [give me] a lot of pressure.”
The slur “yellow banana” was previously yelled at China’s Liang Jingkun at the World Table Tennis Championships in Texas, prompting the International Table Tennis Federation to state it was committed to preventing such incidents.