Bettors are behind most of the most serious online attacks on professional tennis players
Angry bettors were responsible for almost three-fifths of the most serious forms of online abuse directed at professional tennis players and other people in the sport during 2025. This is shown by the second annual report published on July 16, 2026, by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and World Tennis, the new name of the International Tennis Federation, known by the abbreviation ITF. According to official data, people connected with betting generated 42 percent of all confirmed abusive posts and as much as 59 percent of content classified in the serious-abuse category. This category includes violent and targeted threats, sexual harassment, racist messages and attacks directed at players’ family members. The findings confirm that frustration caused by losing bets is no longer merely a source of unpleasant comments after a match, but one of the main security problems professional tennis faces off the court.
The report is based on data from the Threat Matrix system, which combines automated analysis of a large number of posts with the work of human analysts, investigators and threat-assessment specialists. During 2025, more than 1.2 million messages and comments published on X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook were analysed. More than 12,000 pieces of content were confirmed as abusive, while 3,726 posts were assessed as serious. During the season, the programme covered more than 10,000 players and officials, while the analytical team reviewed content in 57 languages. This established one of the most extensive systems for the continuous monitoring of online threats in global sport.
A small number of accounts produce most of the most dangerous content
One of the report’s most important conclusions concerns the pronounced concentration of abuse. According to data from the WTA and World Tennis, only nine percent of accounts flagged as abusive were responsible for 87 percent of all messages classified as content of particular concern. Accounts that analysts defined as repeat offenders produced 49 percent of all detected abuse, up from the 43 percent recorded a year earlier. Such accounts posted violent and sexual messages and threats against players’ family members more frequently than others. The data show that the problem is not evenly distributed among thousands of dissatisfied users, but is driven to a large extent by a relatively narrow group of people who repeat, target and intensify their attacks.
During 2025, 26 particularly active accounts were removed from X and Instagram after each of them had posted more than 30 abusive or threatening messages. Together, those accounts were responsible for 21 percent of all abuse recorded during the year. Investigators fully or partially identified the people behind 68 accounts, compared with 39 accounts in the previous reporting period. The WTA and World Tennis state that this work makes it possible to move beyond merely removing individual comments toward procedures that may include blocking accounts, banning access to sporting events, assessing physical danger and handing evidence over to the relevant authorities. It is precisely this connection between digital monitoring and possible real-world consequences that is crucial to deterring the most persistent offenders.
Two-thirds of serious content removed from platforms
According to the report, 66 percent of content classified as serious abuse was removed during 2025. At the same time, 35 accounts linked to 12 people, including one confirmed network of connected profiles, were referred to the police and other law-enforcement authorities. The organisations did not publish the identities of the suspects or details of individual investigations, so it is currently unclear how many reports resulted in criminal or other legal proceedings. Nevertheless, the number of escalated cases shows that some communications are being assessed as a possible threat to safety, rather than merely as a breach of social-media rules. In such cases, specialist investigators collect publicly available information, link accounts and prepare evidence packages for platforms, tournament organisers, security services and the police.
A particularly important indicator of impact is the finding that 89 percent of the accounts responsible for serious abuse in 2024 did not reappear during 2025. This result does not mean that the problem has been solved, nor does it confirm that all offenders have permanently ceased their activities, because individuals may open new accounts or move to other communication channels. However, the WTA and World Tennis believe that the high non-recurrence rate demonstrates the value of coordinated measures, especially when content removal is combined with the identification of offenders and security procedures. In the first full-year analysis for 2024, the system reviewed approximately 1.6 million posts and comments and confirmed around 8,000 abusive, violent or threatening pieces of content from approximately 4,200 accounts. The final report for that season also found that angry bettors sent 40 percent of all detected abuse, meaning that their share increased by two percentage points in 2025.
Why tennis is particularly exposed to betting-related attacks
Because of the structure of its competitions, professional tennis generates a large number of individual events on which bets can be placed almost every day. Matches are played in different time zones, at tournaments of different levels and across a large number of betting markets, from the final winner to the result of an individual set or game. Players are also visible on social media and often directly accessible through public profiles or private messages. When a result does not meet bettors’ expectations, some users shift responsibility for their personal financial loss onto the athlete, even though the player has no obligation whatsoever in relation to their bet. The report shows that, among a smaller number of individuals, such a reaction develops into repeated harassment, threats of violence or attacks on the family.
The problem is further intensified by the fact that the outcome of a tennis match can change suddenly because of injury, fatigue, weather conditions or a single lost point in the closing stages. Such unpredictability is an integral part of sport, but in a betting environment it can become a trigger for aggression. Specialists involved in the Threat Matrix programme warn that an online attack should not be viewed in isolation simply because it occurred after a sporting result. Repeated messages, obsessive monitoring of a player, the publication of personal information or threats against family members may indicate a genuine security risk. For this reason, the most serious cases are not handled solely by reporting them to platforms, but also involve tournament organisers, security services and the relevant authorities.
Technology accelerates detection, but specialists also make the decisions
Threat Matrix was launched on January 1, 2024, through cooperation between the then ITF, the WTA, the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the United States Tennis Association. The aim was to automatically monitor publicly available posts directed at players and officials and to provide support for threats received through private messages as well. The system developed by Signify Group uses machine learning to identify potentially abusive or threatening content, but the flagged messages are then reviewed by human analysts. Such a procedure is important because of context, irony, local expressions, linguistic nuances and the distinction between general criticism of a sporting performance and a targeted threat. Analysts classify content according to severity, while the most concerning cases are taken over by risk-assessment specialists and investigators.
According to the programme description, expert teams use open-source intelligence methods to link profiles, identify patterns of behaviour and, where possible, identify the person behind an account. Evidence can then be forwarded to social networks for the removal of content or accounts, to sports organisations for security measures and to the police when there is suspicion that the criminal-law threshold has been crossed. The system also makes it possible to alert tournament security teams to people who could pose a risk at an event location. The WTA and World Tennis emphasise that artificial intelligence in this model serves as a tool for processing a large volume of communications, while trained specialists assess severity and make decisions on further action. This is intended to reduce the possibility that an automated flag will be mistakenly interpreted as a final threat assessment.
Social networks are being asked to respond more quickly and consistently
The removal of 66 percent of serious content represents visible progress, but at the same time means that approximately one-third of the most serious posts were not removed during the period under review. It was not disclosed how long the disputed content remained available before removal or to what extent the results varied among platforms. The speed of response is important for players because a threatening message can be copied, shared or turned into a coordinated attack before it disappears from the original account. The WTA and World Tennis therefore stress that further progress requires cooperation among social networks, sporting bodies, the police and the betting industry. Automatically hiding comments alone can reduce immediate exposure, but it does not solve the problem of a person who systematically opens new accounts or sends threats through other channels.
Player representatives on the WTA Player Board described abuse as unacceptable and warned that its impact can be significant even when it is produced by a relatively small number of accounts. In their view, it is important for players to know how reports are analysed, to receive security support and for offenders to be capable of facing consequences. The WTA and World Tennis state that player well-being is one of the priorities of the broader protection system in professional tennis. Online abuse can affect athletes’ concentration, competition preparation, mental health and sense of security, as well as that of their families. In a sport in which travel is frequent and tournament schedules and locations are publicly known, serious threats must also be assessed in relation to the possibility of physical contact.
First betting operator joins sanctioning programme
An important shift in the industry’s response occurred on June 25, 2026, when Signify Group and sports-betting integrity company IC360 announced the launch of the Bad Actor programme. Fanatics Sportsbook became the first betting operator involved in the model. According to Signify’s announcement, the operator committed to suspending or permanently closing customer accounts when the evidence collected confirms that a customer has abused, threatened or harassed athletes, coaches or officials online. The programme connects data from the Threat Matrix system with betting compliance and monitoring infrastructure, allowing consequences to extend beyond the social network to the user’s relationship with the betting operator. The WTA and World Tennis called on other operators to introduce similar mechanisms.
Such an approach creates the possibility of producing a deterrent effect among users who believe that an anonymous message is separate from their betting account. Nevertheless, implementation will depend on the quality of the evidence, data-protection rules, local regulations and appeal procedures for people who are sanctioned. It is not known how many operators will join the programme or whether the model will be applied equally in all markets. For sporting organisations, it is crucial that identified abuse is not treated solely as a reputational problem, but as an issue of safety and competition integrity. Betting-related threats can place pressure on players and, in extreme cases, may overlap with attempts at intimidation or manipulation.
Progress is measurable, but the overall scale of abuse remains large
The second annual report presents two simultaneous conclusions. On the one hand, the removal of most serious messages, the increased number of identified accounts and the fact that the vast majority of the most serious offenders from 2024 did not reappear demonstrate that a coordinated system can produce concrete results. On the other hand, more than 12,000 confirmed pieces of abusive content and 3,726 serious cases in a single season confirm that the scale of the problem remains high. Particularly concerning is the finding that bettors account for 59 percent of the sources of the most serious abuse, because it points to a structural connection between the expansion of sports betting and pressure on individuals taking part in competition. The response therefore cannot remain limited to moderating comments after they have already been published.
The WTA and World Tennis have announced the continuation of cooperation with platforms, investigators, tournament organisers, the police and the betting sector. Further success will depend on the rapid removal of threats, more precise identification of offenders, accessible support for players and clear sanctions that extend beyond the boundaries of an individual platform. Data from 2025 suggest that consequences can reduce repeated abuse, but also that most harm can be prevented by focusing on a small number of extremely active accounts. For professional tennis, the next step will be to turn this insight into a broader protection standard that will be applied consistently, regardless of the tournament, country or social network on which the attack was posted.
Sources:
- WTA – second annual report on online abuse in professional tennis, data for the 2025 season and measures implemented (link)
- World Tennis – official announcement on the results of the Threat Matrix system, content removal and reports to the relevant authorities (link)
- WTA – first full-year report for 2024 and comparative data on the role of bettors in online abuse (link)
- WTA – official information on the launch of the Threat Matrix system and the organisations involved in its implementation (link)
- Signify Group – description of the Bad Actor programme, cooperation with IC360 and the measures adopted by Fanatics Sportsbook (link)
- World Tennis – official clarification of the change of the International Tennis Federation’s name to World Tennis from June 2026 (link)