Some of the world’s largest tennis organizations are sharing collective data on gambling-related online abuse against players and officials.
According to data collected by the International Tennis Federation, Women’s Tennis Association, the All England Lawn Tennis Club and United States Tennis Association, there were roughly 12,000 online posts and comments with abuse messaging directed at athletes and officials between January 2024 and October 2024. The posts and comments, which were monitored through the innovative Threat Matrix service, showcase the need for organizations and governing bodies to combat gambling-related harassment.
Between January and October, approximately 48% of the abusive messaging came from “angry gamblers” with Threat Matrix monitoring around 2.47 million posts worldwide.
The posts and comments monitored during that period were in 39 different languages.
“Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives, and with that, it was essential for the WTA and these partner organizations to take meaningful steps toward filtering, blocking and reporting hateful and harmful comments,” said former WTA No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. “No one should have to endure the hate that so many of us have faced through these platforms. I am pleased that we now have the tools to help filter content and create a healthier online environment.”
Threat Matrix, backed by the Signify Group, utilizes artificial intelligence to monitor and protect players and officials from harassment and abusive messaging. It detected abuse from 15 accounts between January and October that breached criminal thresholds. As a result, the abuse was reported to law enforcement authorities for them to take action.
The most common forms of abuse were sexist remarks and sexually explicit or inappropriate content. In 2024, more than 8,000 players were protected from abuse.
Tennis abuse prevention program
New abuse data has been released as the Association of Tennis Professionals, Sportradar and Tennis Data Innovations deliver a new prevention program.
Earlier this year, the three entities joined forces to create Safe Sport, a service designed to monitor online abuse directed at tennis players using Sportradar data and AI tools.
The technology, which processes more than 500,000 comments daily, is free to use for the ATP’s Top 250 singles players and the Top 50 doubles players on an opt-in basis.
