Days after Elina Svitolina receiving death threats, Elena-Gabriela Ruse breaks down over slut-shaming and abuse after Cincinnati Open 1R loss

August 8, 2025

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Elena-Gabriela Ruse recently expressed her dismay over receiving hate comments and abuse on social media platforms after her early exit at the Cincinnati Open. This incident took place shortly after Ukrainian athlete, Elina Svitolina, received death threats after her quarter-final loss at the Canadian Open.

Svitolina fell to Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinal clash at the National Bank Open on August 6, 2025, where the Japanese claimed a 6-2, 6-2 win over the Ukrainian. Following this loss, she received multiple death threats for her and her family from users on social media, and along with this, she also received hate on her nationality.

A day after this unfortunate incident, another player, Ruse, broke down, opening up about the online hate she has been receiving after her loss in the first round of the Cincinnati Open. The Romanian player was bested by Aoi Ito, who advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 7-6(8) win. Immediately after this loss, Ruse shared snippets of encountering slut-shaming comments on Instagram.

She shared screenshots of a bunch of abusive comments on her Instagram story and expressed her disappointment, writing:

"Guys....This is too much :("

Here are the screenshots of the hate comments she received online:

Elena-Gabriela Ruse also faced an early exit at the Canadian Open against Emma Raducanu.

Elena-Gabriela Ruse opened up about the support of her team after winning or losing a match

Elena-Gabriela Ruse sat for an interview with Sportskeeda in January 2025, where she fielded questions surrounding the ins and outs of various aspects of her life, including what she likes to do after a match and more. Revealing her post-match shenanigans, she revealed that she likes to take a walk and spend time with her team.

"I think first of all I have to recover after a match but in my free time I like to walk in the park, spend time with my team, just to enjoy," said Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

Following this, she was asked whether her post-match routine gets affected if she loses a match, and in response, she sang praises of her team, thanking them for always being there with her.

"Good question. Yeah, I mean everybody wants to win and it's totally different experience when you win a match. I feel very lucky with my team because they're always trying to help me, they are very positive around me, so yeah, this is very important for me," she added.

Elena-Gabriela Ruse opened her 2025 season by competing at the Australian Open, where she fell short of progressing further than the second round after being defeated by Madison Keys.

About the author

An English Honors graduate, Nancy is a journalist at Sportskeeda covering US Olympic sports. She has a total experience of 4 years, having previously worked as a Marketing Executive for BYJU’S before finding her footing at SK.

To deliver the best content, Nancy keeps herself updated by reading as much as possible about the athletes and the sport, and believes that researching and trusting credible sources is the key to reporting ethical and accurate information.

Track and Field events particularly interest Nancy, and she is a fan of Allyson Felix. While she cherished each of her victories, her favorite Olympic moment happens to be the retired athlete’s 10th medal at the Games.

Nancy believes that covering the personal lives and training sessions of the Olympic athletes, and showcasing old podcasts or interviews would help bridge the coverage gap of the sport in its off season.

When away from her keyboard, Nancy spends most of her free time reading books. She also writes poems and plans on publishing a book.

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