Donald Young made a disturbing allegation against Ryan Harrison after the two American tennis players met in a match during the first round of the New York Open on Monday, but Harrison insists he has been falsely accused.
Shortly after Harrison defeated Young in straight sets, Young took to Twitter and indicated that Harrison made a racist remark to him on the court.
I’m shocked and disappointed, Ryan Harrison, to hear you tell me how you really feel about me as a black tennis player in the middle of our NY match. I thought this was supposed to be an inclusive gentleman’s sport.
— Donald Young Jr (@Yimlife1313) February 13, 2018
The two players exchanged words at one point during the match, but it is unclear what was said. Whatever it was, Harrison says it was not racist in nature.
The accusations made by Donald Young tonight following our match are absolutely untrue. I’m extremely disappointed that someone would say this in reaction to a lost tennis match. Any video/audio will 100% clear me and I encourage anyone with the available resources to find it.
— Ryan Harrison (@ryanharrison92) February 13, 2018
Before Young made the claim on Twitter, Harrison was asked about the exchange between the two players during the match. He downplayed it.
“If that happened on a football field, everyone would laugh and say, ’15-yard penalty” and move on,” Harrison told reporters, via Roy Lang III of the Shreveport Times. You move forward and try to take it in stride. At the end of the day, you see everybody, you like everybody and you want to be friends and friendly with everybody, but everybody out here I compete against, even the ones I like, they are the ones trying to take away my livelihood. I have to do what I can to get through, and I was proud of myself for doing that.”
According to Jon Wertheim of SI Now, the ATP is looking into the allegations.
