Patrick Mouratoglou talks about the harassment players face on social medias and how it can affect them personally and their careers.
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00:00 I think harassment and social media go together in general.
00:04 That's probably the way people communicate today
00:10 as it's more and more difficult to express an opinion
00:13 as who you are because there is one way of thinking
00:16 and if you don't have the same way of thinking
00:17 as the immense majority, you are a bad person.
00:20 People more and more use fake names,
00:23 go on social media and harass people.
00:26 So it has to do with social media in general.
00:28 Of course it affects also tennis players,
00:30 it affects all the people who are doing something
00:33 as opposed to people who are not doing something
00:35 but criticising people who are doing something.
00:37 It's of course not acceptable, but for so far,
00:41 social media in general haven't found a solution
00:43 to avoid that.
00:44 I think it's completely okay to have opinions
00:46 and I think it's great and I never have a problem
00:49 and I'm sure that players don't have a problem
00:51 with people who express their opinion
00:53 and fans have opinions and it's great
00:55 because they're engaged.
00:56 Most of the people don't have even 10% of the elements
00:59 to give a smart answer, but they still have an opinion
01:02 and it's totally fine.
01:03 So opinions are fine.
01:04 When it's not fine, it's when people say
01:08 what is supposed to be a truth based on nothing
01:10 and in an aggressive way and this happens a lot.
01:13 They don't know the situation,
01:14 they have 1% of the information and they say
01:17 as if it's an evidence, it's a truth,
01:20 something that is completely untrue,
01:22 that is very unfair and it hurts a lot
01:24 and I know that tennis players are hurt a lot.
01:26 But I like this quote from Gary Vee,
01:27 who of course as a public person is attacked a lot
01:31 on social media and he's a big social media person.
01:33 I think he said it in a way that will help people
01:37 who are harassed feel better.
01:38 He just says this, he says that he feels for those people
01:41 who are harassing others on social media
01:43 because how miserable are they to have nothing else to do
01:47 than take a fake name, go on social media
01:50 just to insult or harass people.
01:52 So you should feel sorry for them.
01:53 And social media has a very unique opinion also
01:56 because people are influenced by the big currents,
01:59 how you should think about this subject,
02:01 how you should think about that subject.
02:03 If you don't think that way, you're a bad person.
02:04 So these currents are affecting the people, of course.
02:07 When you feel people dislike you for something,
02:09 you might wanna change it because ultimately
02:11 everyone wants to be liked.
02:12 But I always say that to my players
02:14 and I will always do because that's the truth.
02:16 If you just watch and read the bad comments that you get,
02:20 they represent probably less than 1% of the people
02:23 who follow you and the people who support you.
02:25 But the people who are negative are so much louder
02:29 than the people who think positive of you
02:31 who don't feel the need to express it most of the time.
02:33 When you have 10 million followers
02:35 and you have 1,000 negative comments and you focus on that,
02:39 you basically focus on less than 1% of the people
02:42 who probably, for the 99 other percent,
02:44 think positive on you.
02:45 It's like being in a stadium that cheers for you
02:48 and there is one guy who's negative
02:49 and you just focus on that guy.
02:51 At the end of the day, not everyone is gonna like you
02:53 and you have to accept it.
02:54 But it's very difficult and I understand it.
02:56 It's extremely difficult to detach
02:58 from the negative opinions that are thrown at your face
03:02 through the social media, but it's a must.
03:03 So of course I take and I spend time explaining that
03:06 to the players because if they're affected,
03:08 it's gonna affect their tennis ultimately.
03:11 (upbeat music)
03:13 (upbeat music)