Most from bookmakers: tennis players received more than 12.000 offensive messages on social media

Tennis players received more than 12.000 offensive posts and messages on social media last year, according to the latest report.

Data from the company Signifaj Grup, whose service uses artificial intelligence to detect threats and abuse, showed that the number of offensive posts in 2025 was similar to 2024, the BBC reported.

The report also highlights certain positive developments, with 66 percent of cases of serious abuse being removed from social media, while 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were reported to the authorities.

A statement from the World Women's Tennis Association (WTA) states that such abuse is unacceptable and that the consequences can be very serious.

A 2024 report showed that bookmakers sent 48 percent of posts that were rated as offensive.

Last year, they were responsible for 42 percent of confirmed cases of abuse and as many as 59 percent of cases of serious abuse.

"Although this behavior comes from a relatively small number of accounts, its impact can be very significant. It is encouraging to know that the WTA and world tennis are taking this seriously, supporting the players and making it clear that this behavior is not acceptable," the WTA said in a statement.

"The progress shown in this report demonstrates how important it is to work together within tennis and with our partners to identify violent behavior, support players and take concrete action against those responsible," the statement said.

The "Threat Matrix" system uses artificial intelligence with the support of human analysts to analyze content on X platforms, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.

British tennis player Katie Boulter told the BBC last year that she had received death threats.

Tennis players have called on social networks to introduce mandatory user identity verification in order to address the problem more effectively.

A new artificial intelligence-based system is already being used in men's tennis, which has blocked 162.000 posts in one year, and is intended to combat serious online abuse.