Unacceptable Online Abuse in Tennis: A Предигейм from the Trenches
"Ideally, you may be stricken with cancer."
The digital realm is a battleground for tennis players, with hate speech and threats becoming an unpleasant norm. Katie Boulter, a prominent British player, recently exposed the devastating words she has been subjected to online, including being wished cancer.
In one particularly shocking message, someone wrote, "Hopefully you get cancer." Boulter's ordeal also included death threats aimed at her and her family. The 28-year-old has made her experiences public because it seems these hostile comments have become the new status quo. "Each time I glance at my phone, it becomes clearer," she admitted.
The sense of uncertainty and vulnerability looms large, as Boulter suspects the abusers to be individuals who have invested in her matches. "You don't want to read something like that straight after an emotional defeat," she confessed. Yet, such messages also surface in the wake of her victories.
Not an Isolated Incident
Recent events in the tennis world, such as stalking incidents involving Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu, have shed light on this pervasive problem. Eva Lys, a 23-year-old Australian Open quarterfinalist, has also bared the brunt of online abuse, describing it as the harsh reality of a tennis player. She believes that the level of abuse escalated as her visibility and match broadcasts increased.
"I think it's crucial to keep discussing it, in the hope that it diminishes one day," Lys articulated to the "Tagesspiegel."
With increasing concern, the Women's Tennis Association and other organizations came up with technological solutions to filter abusive content. Between January and October 2024, around 12,000 posts and comments that violated the rules were detected. Fifteen accounts were handed over to national law enforcement agencies.
Enrichment Insights:
- The source of much of the online abuse is bettors reacting aggressively to losses, leading to targeted hostility and violent messages, directed at players who deviate from bettors' expectations.
- An analysis of 1.6 million social media posts and comments in 2024 revealed nearly 8,000 abusive, violent, or threatening posts from over 4,000 accounts.
- The abusive environment takes a toll on the mental health of players, particularly younger ones, who may be more susceptible to pressure.
- To combat this issue, governing bodies are collaborating with betting operators, social media platforms, law enforcement, and players to address the problem.
- Measures include advanced monitoring tools, banning accounts, reporting offenders to law enforcement, and advocating for more robust protections.
Sports and tennis continue to be venues for hate comments, as demonstrated by the harrowing experiences of Katie Boulter and Eva Lys. Despite efforts to filter abusive content by the Women's Tennis Association, online abuse remains a persisting issue in the tennis community, affecting the mental health of players, particularly the younger ones.
