Angry gamblers are behind 48% of the 12,000 social media posts that have been deemed abusive towards tennis players this year, according to an artificial intelligence-led detection system.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) joined forces at the end of last year to launch a programme that monitors posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Between January and October this year, the ‘Threat Matrix’ service monitored 2.47m posts.
About 12,000 posts and comments broke social media platform community guidelines.
These were referred to social media platforms for removal of the abuse and, in serious cases, the entire account.
Abuse from 15 accounts breached criminal thresholds and was passed to national law enforcement for action.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka, a long-standing member of the WTA Players’ Council, said she was pleased the system is helping “create a healthier online environment”.
“It was essential for the WTA and these partner organisations to take meaningful steps toward filtering, blocking, and reporting hateful and harmful comments,” said the 35-year-old Belarusian.
“No-one should have to endure the hate that so many of us have faced through these platforms.”
Former world number four Caroline Garcia has been among several players who have spoken out about the level of abuse they face.
In August, the French player pleaded for online trolls to remember players “are human”.
Garcia suggested that tournaments partnering with betting companies added to the problems faced by players.
“We are extremely pleased to have helped close down a considerable number of prolific abusive accounts and identified clear drivers for abuse, including a large number of angry gamblers,” said Jonathan Hirshler, chief executive of the Signify Group which runs Threat Matrix.
British number one Katie Boulter, five-time major champion Iga Swiatek and US Open finalist Jessica Pegula were among a number of players who supported Garcia’s message.
Pegula described “constant death threats” and “family threats” as being “normal now”.
The system, which works in 39 languages, protects 7,739 players competing in ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments and 563 players competing in WTA tournaments.
All players competing in the Wimbledon and US Open main draws and qualifying rounds, plus chair umpires, were also covered by Threat Matrix.
