Linda Nosková has concluded her first Grand Slam of the season with a third-round loss to the former World No. 32 Chinese player. She has recently revealed the online abusive messages she has received after her loss at Melbourne Park, highlighting the broader issue of players going through harassing comments after their losses and why this kind of behaviour should not be standardised.
Linda Nosková Becomes the Victim of Online Abuse After Losing Her Third-Round Match
The World No. 13 began her 2026 season with the Brisbane International, where she entered as the ninth seed and defeated Magdalena Fręch in the round of 32. She then faced a defeat from Mirra Andreeva in the round of 16. She also competed in women’s doubles with Clara Tauson, losing in the round of 16 to Alexandra Panova and Irina Khromacheva.
Nosková then began her title run at the Australian Open, where she surpassed Darja Semenistaja in two sets, 6-3, 6-0, and then Taylah Preston in three sets with a final scoreline of 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. In the third round, she lost to Wang Xinyu, who will face Amanda Anisimova in her fourth round, in two sets, 5-7, 4-6, after which she received abusive online messages.
Through her Instagram story and post’s caption, the Czech star expressed her opinions on becoming a victim of online harassment. Furthermore, she revealed her frustration, highlighting the mentality that has led players to become the targets of intentionally hurtful behaviour.
Nosková added, “Is there ever gonna be a world without these imbeciles? Honestly. When is losing gonna be just a part of sport and not something that is automatically followed by comments from a bunch of losers hiding behind a screen trying to make us feel shittier than we already feel? Don’t get me wrong, none of these or all the other fools have ever made me feel any feelings.”
She continued, “Except for realizing that there are people with zero interesting things in their lives, who have so much time on their hands and so much blank space in their heads that they need to share their pointless hate thoughts. So this is not my message to them.
This is for all the athletes who have ever had to lay eyes on such BS, which made them sad/angry/disappointed/scared. Because this is not normal, and we can not just, “get used to it” because, “it’s a part of our sport”. It’s not right, and it shouldn’t be normalized or forgotten.
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Before this incident, Nosková had received hate messages after losing to Elena Rybakina in the round of 16 at the 2025 Wuhan Open. Apart from her, Polish sensation Iga Świątek was also subjected to online abuse after her round-of-16 loss to Emma Navarro at the 2025 China Open.
Apart from this, Eva Lys also faced a similar situation, and American star Jessica Pegula was also online abused after her loss to Lois Boisson at last year’s French Open.
