Matteo Berrettini accused of racism, says sorry afterwards
ATP
Matteo Berrettini is one of the nicest guys on the ATP Tour, but he made a bad decision when posting his latest story on Instagram, and it backfired.
It seems that Matteo Berrettini has been living on a rollercoaster lately. First, he was forced to miss the whole clay-court season due to an injury and surgery.
Then, he came back to win nine matches in a row and two titles on grass. After his triumphs in Stuttgart and at the Queen's Club, it seemed that he was back, but that was far from the truth.
He tested positive for COVID-19 and withdrew from the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, ending his grass-court season earlier than he would have liked.
Now, the Italian faces another difficult period as he was accused of being a racist. Many tennis players are big fans of basketball. This includes Nick Kyrgios, Frances Tiafoe, and also Matteo Berrettini.
In his recent Instagram story, the young Italian wanted to pay tribute to LeBron James, who he admires. James is one of the most successful basketball players of all time and, according to many, the greatest player of all time.
However, when trying to pay tribute to his idol, Berrettini's bad choice of emojis backfired quickly. The Italian player used an emoji of a king's crown and a gorilla when sharing a story related to LeBron James.
However, many people started sending messages to the Italians that using a gorilla emoji was racist, so he immediately took down the story from his profile.
Subsequently, he posted a new story, explaining the situation and apologizing for his actions, even though they were not intentional.
"I am very sorry if my previous story post offended anyone. I was informed that it can easily be misinterpreted so I have deleted it. LeBron is my biggest idol. Incredible role model and inspiration."
