Female tennis players faced 12,000 abusive posts in 2025, report finds

Female tennis players were subjected to more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media in 2025, according to a new report from the Signify Group, as covered by [BBC Sport](https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/articles/c4gxd6vjyj1o).

The group's threat matrix service, which uses AI-led detection backed by human analysts, monitored content across X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. The number of abusive posts in 2025 was similar to 2024, but the report pointed to some positive shifts: 66% of serious abuse was removed, and 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were escalated to law enforcement.

Gamblers remained the largest single source of abuse. Angry bettors were behind 48% of abusive posts in 2024 and accounted for 42% of verified abuse in 2025 — rising to 59% of cases of serious abuse. The WTA player board called the abuse "unacceptable" and warned that, while it comes from a relatively small number of accounts, "its impact can be significant."

Britain's Katie Boulter, the British number two, has previously told BBC Sport she received death threats, and players have called for identity verification on social media platforms to combat the problem. In the men's game, a new AI-driven system blocked 162,000 posts in a year.

The WTA and World Tennis said "collective action" from social media companies, law enforcement, governing bodies and the gambling industry was needed to make "significant progress" in protecting players from online abuse.

Sources

• BBC Sport