Calacus Monthly Hit & Miss – WTA & ITF

Every month we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the last few weeks.

WTA & ITF

Being an athlete is a dream come true for those who are lucky enough to compete at a high level.

You’re getting paid for essentially doing something fun, a hobby that can provide unimaginable riches, travel and opportunities that most of us can only dream of. Athletes also have the opportunity to do something good, to inspire society and help the disadvantaged.

But as for all people in the public eye, there is a price. Gone is their anonymity and ability to go about their business untroubled.

And there is a darker element with players under threat.

Monica Seles, who at that point had won multiple Grand Slams, was stabbed in the back at the Hamburg Citizen Cup, and although she made a full recovery, she missed two years of her career as a consequence. Shockingly, her attacker, Gunter Parche, was only given a two year suspended sentence.

More recently, Emma Raducanu was stalked by a man who was given a five-year restraining order and has tried to buy tickets for Wimbledon.

Physical attacks are, thankfully, rare, but social media has made keyboard warriors, trolls, far more emboldened to abuse athletes who are only trying to do their best.

We’ve written extensively about the abhorrent racist abuse suffered by footballers such as Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho after the Euro 2020 penalty defeat for England against Italy at Wembley, which led to prison sentences for abusers.

Tennis has not avoided the issue, with plenty of players suffering online vitriol.

Former world number four Caroline Garcia pleaded for online trolls to remember players "are human" after being abused following defeats.

Posting on X and Instagram, Garcia included images of four abusive messages of "hundreds" she has received, including threats to her family.

"Maybe you can think that it doesn’t hurt us," wrote Garcia. "But it does. We are humans. And sometimes, when we receive these messages we are already emotionally destroyed after a tough loss. And they can be damaging.

Garcia also suggested that tournaments partnering with betting companies added to the problems faced by players.

"I know those who write these terrible messages won't change because of this," she added. "But maybe you, next time you see a post from an athlete, singer or any other person, that has failed or lost, you will remember that she or he is also a human being, trying his/her best in life.”

Britain's Katie Boulter was one of a number of players to repost Garcia's message, while women's world number one Iga Swiatek responded, "Thank you for this voice".

During a practice session during the Miami Open, Świątek was confronted by someone who has regularly abused her online and she needed additional security, which a representative for the player described as “a direct transition from verbal aggression online to harassment in the real world.”

Former world number eight Daria Kasatkina said that the abuse was “completely out of control." 

US players Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula also commented with the latter writing: "Yep. The constant death threats and family threats are normal now. Win or lose."

Pegula added: "Online abuse is unacceptable, and something that no player should have to endure. It's time for the gambling industry and social media companies to tackle the problem at its source and act to protect everyone facing these threats."

In May 2023, American Taylor Townsend shared a screenshot of the death threat and racist abuse she received in an email after losing a match.

Sloane Stephens and Jay Clarke had previously revealed the level of racist abuse they were subjected to on social media.

Boulter also opened up at the level of abuse in a wide-ranging BBC interview and explained: “It becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone.

“I think it just kind of shows how vulnerable we are. You really don't know if this person is on site. You really don't know if they're nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that.

Boulter said that she receives "hundreds of messages after games, after points, after sets and after matches. As far as death threats, it's just not something you want to be reading straight after an emotional loss.”

Sadly, too often, governing bodies don’t do enough to protect their players, softening messages about racism and discrimination on the world stage.

So it’s to the credit of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) for producing a report outlining the scale of abuse directed at players on social media.

In liaison with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), and United States Tennis Association (USTA), they have released the findings of a coordinated approach to combat online abuse against players, officials, and the wider tennis family.

The governing bodies came together in 2023 to begin a ground-breaking initiative that uses the Threat Matrix service to monitor player and tennis family public-facing social media accounts for abusive and threatening content on X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. 

Threat Matrix, run by Signify, uses artificial intelligence and human expertise to detect, analyse, identify, and take action against abusers, working in more than 40 languages.

Between January and October 2024, the service monitored 2.47 million posts with more than 12,000 posts and comments verified as abusive and referred to social media platforms for removal of either the posts or, in some instances, the accounts themselves.

According to the first report, 458 players were targeted with direct abuse or threat, five players received 26% of the total abuse identified, while 97 prolific accounts were responsible for 23% of all detected abuse, with a spike during Grand Slams.

The most prolific account sent 263 abusive messages, and 15 accounts were escalated to law enforcement, while the Threat Matrix service provides support for the players and liaison with security bodies to manage risk. 

An ITF spokesperson said: “Protecting players and the wider tennis family from vile online threat and abuse is a key priority for us. Today’s report covering the first year of the Threat Matrix service shows the scale of the problem and, crucially, the actions being taken to protect our athletes.

“From law enforcement escalation and platform intervention to banning abusers from our events, perpetrators must understand that they will face consequences for their actions.  

“Abusers should be under no illusion – we will pursue criminal prosecution where we can, seek to exclude them from access to major social media platforms and ban them from attending our events.

“Given the clear evidence highlighted by Threat Matrix on the link between angry gamblers and prolific online abuse and threat, we are calling for a constructive dialogue with the gambling industry to help tackle this issue. Everyone – betting operators, social media platforms, governing bodies, players and law enforcers – has a responsibility to make the online space a safer and more positive one. We hope the gambling industry responds constructively to our call for more action on their part.”

Jonathan Hirshler, Signify CEO, added: “This unique dataset, covering all players across international tennis tours and Grand Slams, illustrates that a relatively small number of accounts are responsible for a significant proportion of prolific abuse and trolling.  

“Constructive dialogue with betting operators, as well as social media platforms and law enforcement would be a positive next step to discuss what collective action can be taken to address these concerns.”

The fact that governing bodies have taken this issue of online abuse so seriously is a huge step forward, rather than making knee-jerk statements that aren’t followed up with tangible action.

Former world number one Victoria Azarenka, a long-standing member of the WTA Players' Council, commented: “It was essential for the WTA and these partner organisations to take meaningful steps toward filtering, blocking, and reporting hateful and harmful comments. No-one should have to endure the hate that so many of us have faced through these platforms.”

Sally Bolton, AELTEC Chief Executive, said: “We try very hard to protect the players when they're on site and digitally we are investing in helping to support them to not have that abuse happen.

"It's disappointing that athletes aren't able to go about what they do without receiving that abuse, but unfortunately it is a reality, and betting on sport now I'm afraid is also a reality, so we have to think about how we can mitigate some of that threat and risk."

With the evidence highlighted by Threat Matrix, the tennis bodies have now called for constructive dialogue with the gambling industry to tackle the individuals that engage in prolific or highly threatening online abuse connected to sports betting.

Given that tennis benefits from many partnerships with betting companies, the importance of working together is paramount.

A Betting and Gaming Council spokesperson told BBC Sport that the organisation does “not tolerate abuse on social media, which has no place in betting or sport.”

“It is vital social media companies take swift action against users, remove offensive content and work more closely with BGC members on measures to further strengthen safer gambling.

“Each month around 22.5m people in Britain enjoy a bet, on the lottery, in bookmakers, casinos, bingo halls and online, and the overwhelming majority do so safely and responsibly.”

Boulter and other tennis players have now called for online ID verification with Harriet Dart saying: “This isn't just a tennis issue. This is a global issue, and it's not just a sport issue. It's everywhere.

"We live in the 21st Century, and are we not ID-ing people on social media. You can connect people, and then people can be found and stuff. Because it's pretty horrific, the abuse that all of us get. That's why I feel like a lot of the time, social media can be like a big negative.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed that more needs to be done.

He said: “We need to look at what more we can do. It's a great shame that some of these players want to come off social media for the duration of a competition where they are the defending champions. They shouldn't have to be having to adjust their own lives because of the other people.

“We need to look at what we can do, working with some of the platform providers, to see whether we can take some further measures.”

The Threat Matrix initiative with tennis is a positive step, underlining the value governing bodies should all have for their athlete’s mental as well as physical wellbeing.

It’s now time for other sports governance to follow their lead and take the matter seriously so that the online safety of athletes can be ensured.