Professional tennis players of Brazil complained about being racially abused by fans when they took on Argentina during Monday's Davis Cup tennis singles matches.
The event, which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, featured matches between Brazil's Joao Souza and Thomaz Bellucci and Argentina's Leonardo Mayer and Federico Delbonis, according to Euro Sport.
The two players from Argentina won both singles matches.
According to Souza, during his match against Mayer, he heard Argentine spectators calling him a monkey and using other racist slurs. He thought about confronting the referee about the matter but decided not to do so to avoid infuriating the fans.
"I wanted to go to the umpire but I would be jeered even more, it would only make it worse," he told the Brazilian sports website SporTV according to the Associated Press.
"We know it's tough to play away from home, but racism is a bit too much," the 26-year-old athlete added.
Bellucci went through the same kind of abuse when he faced off against Delbonis in a decisive singles match. He said he had a hard time going through the tournament because of the spectators' taunting.
"It was the toughest day to play," he told the news site. "There was a lot of noise, a lot of people talking to me when I was serving. They were cursing me every time I went for the towel. We knew was going to be like this, we knew we were not going to be treated as lords."
Delbonis won the event with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory. His win cemented Argentina's spot in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Davis Cup. Argentina is scheduled to play against Serbia in the upcoming event.
Angered by how Souza and Bellucci were treated by the fans during their respective matches, the tennis team of Brazil decided not to show up for the news conference held after Monday's tournament.
