They battle on the court for hours under scorching sun and roaring crowds. But for many of the world’s best female tennis players, the real fight begins after the final point — when they pick up their phones and scroll through a tidal wave of abuse, threats, and hatred.
A Crisis Hidden Behind the Highlight Reel
Tennis is one of the most-watched individual sports on the planet. With billions of followers across social media platforms, players are more connected to fans than ever before. But that connection has a dark side — one that disproportionately targets women.
A comprehensive investigation by BBC Sport (July 2026), drawing on WTA data and reports from the Alan Turing Institute, has quantified the scale of the crisis for the first time. Here are the numbers that tell the story:
- 12,000 abusive posts targeted female tennis players in 2025 alone — similar to 2024 levels, showing the problem is persistent, not improving
- Female players receive three times more abusive messages than male players at equivalent rankings
- Just 5 WTA players receive more than 25% of all online abuse directed at professional women’s tennis — the estimated top targets include Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff, Raducanu, and Osaka
- Gambling-related abuse is responsible for 42% of all verified abuse and a staggering 59% of serious abuse (death threats, threats of violence) in 2025
- 66% of serious abuse was successfully removed by platforms, but 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals had to be escalated to law enforcement
These aren’t abstract statistics. They represent real messages sent to real athletes — women who train their entire lives to compete at the highest level, only to be met with hatred from anonymous accounts hiding behind screens.
Naomi Osaka: The Pioneer Who Paid the Price
No discussion of abuse in women’s tennis is complete without Naomi Osaka. The four-time Grand Slam champion became the face of the mental health crisis in sport when she withdrew from the 2021 French Open, citing depression and anxiety. What followed was a firestorm.
Osaka was fined $15,000 for skipping mandatory press conferences and was threatened with expulsion from the tournament. The backlash on social media was relentless. She received racist abuse, death threats, and misogynistic messages from accounts around the world. The experience forced her to step away from tennis entirely, withdrawing from Wimbledon and sitting out the 2021 US Open.
“I would never put myself in that position again,” Osaka said at the time. “I feel like people don’t really know what goes on behind closed doors.”
After the birth of her daughter Shai in 2023 and a gradual return to competition in 2024, Osaka’s 2025 season marked a remarkable comeback — reaching the Canadian Open final and the US Open semifinal, returning to the top 15. But even during this resurgence, the online abuse never fully stopped. After every high-profile loss, the messages would flood back.
In 2026, Osaka reached the fourth round at Roland Garros and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, proving she could still compete with the best. But in interviews, she has been candid about the lasting impact of the abuse she endured.
Amanda Anisimova: The Break That Told a Thousand Stories
Amanda Anisimova’s story is one of the most compelling — and heartbreaking — in modern tennis. The American prodigy broke through as a 17-year-old, reaching the semifinals of the 2019 French Open and defeating defending champion Simona Halep.
After a strong 2022 season that saw her reach the fourth round at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, Anisimova’s world ranking peaked inside the top 25. But behind the results, she was struggling.
On May 5, 2023, Anisimova announced on Instagram that she would be taking an indefinite break from tennis, citing burnout and concerns for her mental health. The announcement sent shockwaves through the sport.
What made Anisimova’s case particularly notable was the nature of the abuse she faced. As a young American player with a high public profile, she was subjected to a relentless stream of social media trolling, including comments about her appearance, her playing style, and her personal life.
Her comeback, beginning in early 2024, has been nothing short of extraordinary. She reached her first WTA 1000 final at the Canadian Open, qualified for the US Open, and by 2025 had reached both the Wimbledon and US Open finals, climbing to a career-high ranking of world No. 3 in January 2026.
Coco Gauff: Speaking Out Against the Hate
Coco Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, has been one of the most vocal advocates against online abuse in women’s tennis. Despite her youth, Gauff has faced an extraordinary volume of hateful messages throughout her career.
In 2025, after a series of early exits at major tournaments, Gauff addressed the issue head-on in a social media post that went viral. “I’m human,” she wrote. “I read the comments. I see the messages. And some of the things people say to me — about my body, my race, my game — they stay with you.”
As a young Black woman at the top of a predominantly white sport, she faces a double burden of racist and sexist abuse that few of her peers experience to the same degree. Gauff has been identified as one of the 5 players who receive more than 25% of all online abuse in women’s tennis.
Iga Swiatek: The World Number One Who Chose Silence
Iga Swiatek, the Polish superstar who dominated women’s tennis for much of 2022-2024, has taken a different approach to dealing with online abuse. Rather than engaging publicly, Swiatek has largely withdrawn from social media during competitive periods.
The decision came after Swiatek faced a surge of abuse following several high-profile losses in 2024 and 2025. “The internet can be a wonderful place,” she said in a 2025 interview. “But it can also be the loneliest place in the world.”
Katie Boulter and Heather Watson: British Players Speak Out
The abuse crisis is not limited to the sport’s biggest stars. Katie Boulter, Britain’s No. 2, revealed in 2025 that she had received death threats on social media following poor results. The experience prompted her to become one of the strongest advocates for mandatory identity verification on social media platforms — a cause that gained significant momentum among WTA players in June 2025.
Heather Watson, the veteran British player, shared that she received her first death threat at just 18 years old. Speaking in June 2025, Watson described how the abuse has been a constant presence throughout her career: “It doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing — the messages are always there. You just learn to live with it. But you shouldn’t have to.”
Both players have called for mandatory identity verification on social media platforms, arguing that anonymity is the primary enabler of online abuse. The WTA Player Board echoed this call, describing the abuse as having a “significant” impact on players and demanding “collective action” from social media companies, law enforcement, governing bodies, and the gambling industry.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Abuse by the Stats
The scale of the problem becomes clearer when you examine the data:
- 12,000 abusive posts were identified targeting female tennis players in 2025 (BBC Sport, July 2026)
- Instagram is the primary platform for abuse (~40%), followed by X/Twitter (~30%), with TikTok and YouTube making up the rest
- After a Grand Slam final loss, a female player can receive hundreds of abusive messages within hours
- Gambling-related abuse accounts for 42% of verified abuse and 59% of serious abuse — including death threats from disgruntled bettors
- Just 5 players absorb more than a quarter of all abuse, creating an intense concentration of hatred directed at the sport’s biggest names
- Players under the age of 25 receive significantly more abuse than older players, with appearance-based attacks particularly common
Elena Rybakina: The Quiet Sufferer
Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, has endured a particularly difficult relationship with public scrutiny. Born in Russia but representing Kazakhstan, Rybakina has faced a unique form of abuse that combines political criticism, national identity attacks, and personal trolling.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Rybakina faced abuse from both sides — those who criticised her for representing Kazakhstan despite her Russian roots, and those who attacked her for leaving Russian tennis.
Aryna Sabalenka: Defending Champion Under Fire
Aryna Sabalenka, the Belarusian powerhouse who won three consecutive Australian Open titles (2023-2025), has faced her own share of online abuse. She has been targeted by fans who accuse her of gamesmanship and has faced politically motivated abuse related to Belarus’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
What the WTA and ITF Are Doing
The governing bodies of women’s tennis have taken several steps to address the abuse crisis:
The WTA Player Safety Programme
- 24/7 mental health support line available to all players on the WTA Tour
- Social media monitoring in partnership with specialist firms that flag abusive accounts
- Legal support for players who wish to take action against their abusers
- On-site security enhancements at WTA events, including increased police presence
AI-Powered Threat Detection
The WTA has partnered with Signify Group, whose Threat Matrix technology uses a combination of AI and human analysts to monitor abuse across X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook. The system flags abusive content in real-time and provides evidence packages for law enforcement when threats cross the line into criminal territory.
Platform Accountability
In 2025, the WTA published a scorecard ranking major platforms on their response to abusive content. The findings were sobering:
- Instagram (~40% of abuse): Improved AI detection, but slow response times to reports. Still the single largest source of abusive messages
- X/Twitter (~30% of abuse): Significant reduction in moderation staff following corporate restructuring; abuse reports often unaddressed for weeks
- TikTok: Proactive removal of abusive comments, but limited action on DMs
- Facebook: Least responsive platform, highest rate of unresolved abuse reports
The Betting Connection: A Growing Threat
An alarming trend that has emerged in 2025 and 2026 is the connection between sports betting and player abuse. The data confirms this is not a niche problem: gambling-related abuse accounts for 42% of all verified abuse and a staggering 59% of serious abuse in 2025.
That means more than half of all death threats and threats of physical violence sent to female tennis players come from bettors who lost money on their matches. As online gambling becomes increasingly accessible, players have reported a surge in threatening messages — and the WTA has called for tighter regulation of in-play betting.
What Players Are Saying
Coco Gauff: “I shouldn’t have to choose between being on social media and being safe. We need to find a better way.”
Naomi Osaka: “I’ve learned to protect my peace. But that shouldn’t be the only option. The platforms need to do better.”
Amanda Anisimova: “When I took my break, I didn’t know if I’d ever come back. The noise outside the court was louder than anything on it.”
Iga Swiatek: “Mental health is not weakness. It’s being human. And humans aren’t built to absorb that much negativity.”
Heather Watson: “It doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing — the messages are always there. You just learn to live with it. But you shouldn’t have to.”
Katie Boulter: “Anonymity is the problem. If people had to put their name to these messages, most of them would disappear overnight.”
Looking Forward: What Needs to Change
- Platform accountability: Social media companies must invest more in AI-driven moderation and faster response times to abuse reports from verified athletes
- Mandatory identity verification: The WTA Player Board has called for verified accounts to be required for direct messaging, reducing the cloak of anonymity that enables abuse
- Legal consequences: Stronger laws — and their enforcement — to hold anonymous abusers accountable, including the criminalisation of death threats sent to athletes
- Betting regulation: Tighter controls on in-play gambling to prevent the pipeline between betting losses and player abuse
- Education: Fan education programmes at major tournaments to promote respectful behaviour both online and in stadiums
- Mental health investment: Continued expansion of mental health resources for players, including access to therapists and counsellors throughout the season
The women of the WTA Tour are among the most talented, resilient, and inspiring athletes in the world. They deserve to compete in an environment where their safety — both physical and digital — is not an afterthought. As the sport moves deeper into 2026, the question is no longer whether online abuse is a problem. It’s whether the tennis establishment, the tech industry, and the legal system will do enough to solve it.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please reach out to the WTA Player Safety Line or contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 (US) or 116 123 (UK). You are not alone.
