Online Abuse in Tennis Remains a Major Concern, But New Report Shows Progress

The WTA and World Tennis are reporting progress in their ongoing effort to identify, investigate and act against online abuse directed at tennis players.  

The organizations published their second annual season-wide report Thursday, detailing online abuse and threats targeting players across the Tours during the 2025 season. The report, based on data from Signify Group’s Threat Matrix service, found that 66% of serious abusive posts or comments were removed, while 35 accounts were escalated to law enforcement.

The data also showed that 89% of accounts responsible for serious abuse in 2024 did not reappear in 2025, a sign the organizations pointed to as evidence that coordinated action can reduce repeat abuse.

“The wellbeing of players and the tennis family is an absolute priority for us and the sport as a whole, and the use of the Threat Matrix service is a key part of our wider work on player welfare,” WTA and World Tennis jointly stated. “Insight from this report is crucial to helping us broaden our knowledge of the issue and take decisive action to protect victims of vile online abuse by punishing those responsible.

Above: Katie Boulter has publicly spoken about receiving online death threats, including abuse directed at her family. Photo: Chris Czermak, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

“While today’s findings illustrate the effectiveness of that action to date, further significant progress requires collective action from social media companies, law enforcement, governing bodies and the gambling industry and we will continue to proactively advocate for that.”

The Threat Matrix service, delivered by Signify Group and supported by Theseus Risk Management and investigations specialists Quest, is part of a joint initiative between the WTA and World Tennis to support player wellbeing and address online threats before they can escalate into real-world harm.

All WTA and World Tennis players are covered by the service across the entire season. More than 10,000 players and officials are covered by the AI-led initiative, which is supported by human analysts who analyze and triage content in 57 languages from open-source data across X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.

A team of specialist investigators and risk assessors then gathers evidence on the most concerning accounts, working with Tour and venue security teams to take action designed to prevent real-world harm.

Above: Jessica Pegula has been among the players calling for stronger action from social media platforms and the gambling industry in response to online abuse. Photo credit: Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

More than 1.2 million posts and comments were analyzed during the 2025 season. More than 12,000 posts were categorized as abusive, with 3,726 posts classified as serious abuse, including violent, sexual, racist and targeted threats.

The report also highlighted the growing effectiveness of coordinated action between governing bodies, tournament organizers, social media platforms and law enforcement agencies. Thirty-five accounts linked to 12 individuals, including one verified account network, were escalated to law enforcement, while 26 prolific abusive accounts on X and Instagram were removed after posting more than 30 abusive messages each. Together, those 26 accounts were responsible for 21% of all abuse detected during the year.

Investigations fully or partially identified 68 abusive accounts, up from 39 in 2024.

The report found that a relatively small number of prolific accounts were responsible for a large share of the most concerning online abuse. Just 9% of abusive accounts were responsible for 87% of all abuse categorized as “high concern,” while prolific accounts were responsible for 49% of all detected abuse, up from 43% in 2024. Those accounts were also more likely to post violent, sexual and family-related abuse.

Above: Elina Svitolina has also spoken out after receiving hateful messages linked to angry bettors following matches. Photo credit: Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Abuse linked to gambling activity remained a major concern. According to the report, angry gamblers were responsible for 42% of all verified abuse detected during the 2025 season, a 2% increase from 2024, and 59% of all serious abuse.

Earlier this month, Fanatics Sportsbook became the first U.S.-based betting operator to adopt investigative tools, including Threat Matrix, through the Bad Actor Program to identify and take action against individuals responsible for social media abuse. The WTA and World Tennis are calling on more of the gambling industry to take similarly proactive measures.

“The abuse directed at players online is unacceptable,” a WTA Player Board representative said. “While it comes from a relatively small number of accounts, its impact can be significant. It's reassuring to know the WTA and World Tennis are taking this seriously, supporting players and making it clear that this kind of behaviour isn't acceptable.

“The progress highlighted in this report demonstrates the value of working collaboratively across the sport and with our partners to identify abusive behaviour, support players and take meaningful action against those responsible."

Jonathan Hirshler, CEO of Signify Group, said the WTA and World Tennis have established “one of the world's leading programmes to protect athletes from online abuse,” adding that Threat Matrix combines AI, specialist analysts and investigative expertise to identify offenders and help drive real-world action.

"This year's report shows both the scale of the challenge, but most importantly, the actions being taken,” Hirshler said. “While online abuse remains a serious issue, the progress reflected in this report shows what can be achieved when sports organisations, tech partners and security teams work together, but tackling online abuse requires continued commitment and effort from all partners.”

The report underscores both the scale of online abuse facing tennis players and the growing role of technology, investigations, social media platforms, law enforcement and the gambling industry in addressing the issue.

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Source: WTA and World Tennis. Photo credit (top): Zeynep Tekin via Pexels.

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