Online Abuse Reaches New Heights for Women in Tennis

Female tennis players faced 12 000 abusive – A comprehensive new report reveals that female tennis players faced 12 000 abusive posts and messages across social media platforms throughout 2025. This significant figure represents a concerning trend in online harassment directed at professional women athletes, with the majority of the abuse coming from a relatively small number of accounts. The data, compiled by the Signify Group’s threat matrix service, demonstrates that the volume of hostile content remained consistent with 2024 levels, despite various initiatives to combat online toxicity.

The threat matrix employs artificial intelligence-led detection methods alongside human analysts to monitor content across major platforms including X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook. This sophisticated approach enabled researchers to identify not only the quantity of abusive posts but also their severity and sources. The findings show that 66% of serious abuse was successfully removed within a reasonable timeframe, indicating that existing moderation systems are becoming more effective at protecting players from harmful content.

Understanding the Sources of Hostility

One of the most revealing aspects of the report concerns the origins of the abuse. In 2025, gamblers were responsible for 42% of verified abuse and an even higher 59% of cases classified as serious abuse. This represents a slight shift from 2024, when angry gamblers accounted for 48% of all posts deemed abusive. The persistence of gambling-related hostility suggests that betting culture continues to be a primary driver of online aggression toward female athletes.

While it comes from a relatively small number of accounts, its impact can be significant. 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.

The WTA player board issued a strong statement condemning the abuse as unacceptable, emphasizing that its cumulative impact on players’ wellbeing cannot be underestimated. Meanwhile, 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were escalated to law enforcement agencies, marking an important step toward holding perpetrators accountable through legal channels.

British player Katie Boulter, currently ranked as the British number two, has been particularly vocal about her experiences. She revealed that she had received death threats on social media, prompting fellow players to call for identity verification systems to be introduced by major platforms. Such measures could help reduce anonymous harassment by making it easier to trace and penalize offenders.

The collaborative effort between the WTA and World Tennis has proven valuable in addressing this growing problem. Both organizations emphasized that collective action from social media companies, law enforcement bodies, governing bodies, and the gambling industry remains essential for making significant progress. They acknowledged that while current findings illustrate the effectiveness of actions taken to date, further improvements require sustained commitment from all stakeholders.

In the men’s game, a parallel system driven by artificial intelligence has already blocked 162,000 posts in a single year, demonstrating the potential scale of automated moderation. As female tennis players faced 12 000 abusive posts in 2025, the sport continues to develop strategies to protect its athletes while maintaining the integrity of online engagement. The insights gathered from this report will help broaden understanding of the issue and enable more decisive action to protect victims of vile online abuse by punishing those responsible.