According to AI service Threat Matrix, angry gamblers wrote 48% of 12,000 social media posts considered abusive towards tennis players in 2024. The AI-led detection system examined 2.47 million posts during the study, which ran from January to October of this year.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) launched the Threat Matrix service at the end of 2023. It covers social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and YouTube.
The Threat Matrix system works across 39 languages and covers 7,739 players who compete in ITF World Tennis Tour competitions, with an additional 563 players from WTA tournaments. Players also use Threat Matrix when competing in the main draws and qualifying rounds for the US Open and Wimbledon, as well as chair umpires.
Former world number one and WTA Players’ Council member, Victoria Azarenka, commented:
“It was essential for the WTA and these partner organizations to take meaningful steps toward filtering, blocking, and reporting hateful and harmful comments. No-one should have to endure the hate that so many of us have faced through these platforms.”
15 accounts breaching criminal thresholds
The 12,000 abusive posts and comments Threat Matrix detected broke social media community guidelines, and the social media platforms were notified of these breaches. Usually, the procedure for abusive content is to remove it from the platform and potentially remove the entire account if a user crosses a serious threshold.
However, in some posts the service went beyond this, with 15 accounts breaching criminal thresholds. In those cases, Threat Matrix passed the abuse along to national law enforcement agencies to take action.
Johnathan Hirshler, Chief Executive of the Signify Group, which operates Threat Matrix, commented, "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.”
Tennis one of many sports facing gambling abuse
Tennis is not the only sport facing issues with player abuse, with the NCAA releasing a harassment analysis Signify Group also conducted in October. The study detected 743 abusive and threatening messages toward NCAA athletes with links to sports betting.
According to the study, 73% of the comments targeted March Madness, with women getting 59% more abusive content than men. The study covered 3,000 athletes, 500 coaches, 200 officials, and 160 college sports programs.
The study covered the College Football Playoffs, men’s and women’s March Madness competitions, the baseball and softball College World Series, and gymnastics and volleyball championships.
That’s why many states like Wyoming are considering banning player prop bets to take the pressure off these young athletes. During a meeting with the Wyoming Gaming Commission, the NCAA Assistant Director of Government Relations Austin Meo told the Commission reducing harassment of student-athletes “is a major issue with us.”
