(Reuters) -British number two Katie Boulter has received death threats to herself and members of her family after matches as players are increasingly subjected to online abuse through direct messages.
Gamblers are responsible for 40% of detected abuse, according to a survey undertaken by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) published on Tuesday.
Boulter, 28, shared her experiences in an interview with the BBC. The world number 39 received messages that read: “Hope you get cancer”, “Candles and a coffin for your entire family”, and “Go to hell, I lost money my mother sent me”.
“I just wonder who the person is that has sent that,” Boulter said looking at the “hope you get cancer” message.
“I don’t think it’s something that I would ever say to my worst enemy. It’s just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone. It’s horrible.”
The WTA and ITF study, which monitored 1.6 million posts and comments last year using Threat Matrix AI, are calling for the gambling industry to tackle those people responsible for the abuse more effectively.
“I think it just kind of shows how vulnerable we are,” Boulter said. “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.”
The WTA said 458 players were targeted with direct abuse or threat last year and that action had been taken against the most serious and prolific cases, including 15 accounts escalated to law enforcement.
“Online abuse is unacceptable, and something that no player should have to endure,” American world number three Jessica Pegula, a member of the WTA Players’ Council said in a statement.
“I welcome the work that the WTA and ITF are doing with Threat Matrix to identify and take action against the abusers, whose behaviour is so often linked to gambling. But it’s not enough on its own.
“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.”
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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