Katie Boulter: British No 2 reveals death threats and online abuse to highlight disturbing side of tennis betting

British No 2 Katie Boulter has opened up about the level of abuse aimed at some tennis players and revealed she and her family have received death threats.

Boulter shared her experiences with BBC Sport to highlight the issue of players receiving toxic messages online.

The 28-year-old's examples included a message telling her to buy "candles and a coffin for your entire family" with a reference to her "grandmother's grave if she's not dead by tomorrow".

Another message stated she should "go to hell" as she had cost the poster money, and another read "hope you get cancer".

"I just wonder who the person is that has sent that. I don't think it's something that I would ever say to my worst enemy. It's just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone. It's horrible," Boulter said.

"As far as death threats, it's just not something you want to be reading straight after an emotional loss.

"A lot of the time you get it after you win as well."

Abuse from gamblers who have lost money

Boulter believes much of the abuse comes from gamblers who have lost money and while she has learned how to better handle it over the years, incidents can raise genuine concerns for her safety.

"I think it just kind of shows how vulnerable we are. You really don't know if this person is on site. You really don't know if they're nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that," she added.

"At the very start of my career, it's probably something I took very personally [...] getting comments about the way you look."

"It becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone."

The message Boulter received relating to her family came during her French Open first-round victory over Carole Monnet on May 29. After losing the first-set tie-break, Boulter won the match 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-1.

Boulter said she is concerned that both the frequency and severity of the abuse are increasing and worries about the potential impact on younger players.

"I think it increases in number, and it also increases in the level of things that people say. I don't think there's anything off the cards now," Boulter said.

Boulter said she is getting ready for the level of abuse to increase when she plays at Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam which starts on June 30.

The British No 2 also said she receives online abuse if her partner, Australian world No 12 Alex de Minaur, loses a match.

What is being done?

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Tuesday published their first report into online abuse of players after the launch of the Threat Matrix service last January.

The system operates across all major social media platforms and uses AI and human analysts to identify and tackle harassment, abuse and threats directed at players.

The report reveals 1.6 million posts and comments were analysed, with around 8,000 directed at 458 players identified as abusive, violent or threatening. Five players received 26 per cent of the total abuse, while 40 per cent of the messages were identified as coming from angry gamblers.

Fifteen accounts have been identified to law enforcement because of the serious and prolific nature of the messages, while details have been shared with security teams at tennis events to prevent individuals from accessing venues.

A spokesperson for the WTA and ITF said: "Protecting players and the wider tennis family from vile online threat and abuse is a key priority for us. Today's report covering the first year of the Threat Matrix service shows the scale of the problem and, crucially, the actions being taken to protect our athletes.

"Given the clear evidence highlighted by Threat Matrix on the link between angry gamblers and prolific online abuse and threat, we are calling for a constructive dialogue with the gambling industry to help tackle this issue.

"Everyone - betting operators, social media platforms, governing bodies, players and law enforcers - has a responsibility to make the online space a safer and more positive one. We hope the gambling industry responds constructively to our call for more action on their part."

The Threat Matrix service is also being enhanced to enable abusive messages to be hidden or removed in real time.

Boulter was praised for highlighting the issue by the United Against Online Abuse campaign, a research-led coalition dedicated to tackling online abuse in sport founded by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and supported by the FIA Foundation.

A spokesperson said: "Katie is incredibly brave for speaking out about the appalling online abuse and threats she has faced. Betting-related abuse has risen significantly in recent years and now presents a serious and growing
threat to the safety, well-being and mental health of athletes.

"Research conducted by the FIA's United Against Online Abuse campaign shows that, unless we address this issue through co-ordinated, evidence-based action, competitors will be driven out of their sport.

"This is a global challenge that demands a united response to protect athletes at every level of competition."

De Minaur: Nothing changes

Boulter's fiancé De Minaur said it was "great for her to step up and shine a light into this" but admits it's something that happens to every single athlete.

"It's good to kind of shine a light of everything that happens not only when you lose, that you're feeling not in the best state emotionally, but then you've also got to deal with everything that happens behind the scenes with angry gamblers," said the Australian following his 6-4 6-2 defeat to Czech Jiri Lehecka at Queen's Club on Tuesday.

"Hopefully there is something that can be done about it. It's something that's been going on for a while now. It's something that a lot of people have spoken out against, but it doesn't change.

"I haven't gone on my social media yet, but I'm sure I'll have a lot of people not too happy with my result today. It's just part of it. I would love for it to be dealt with or fixed somehow, but I'm not too sure what the answer is."

Draper: Easy to spread online hate

British No 1 Jack Draper is worried that future generations are growing up with social media and feels it has become easy to spread online hate.

"When you're younger and you lose a match or something, and you come into the professional tour and getting all this abuse saying they will come around your house and do this and that. It's not nice," said Draper.

"There does need to be something that gets done about it not just in tennis but in professional sport. It's too easy to spread hate. I guess that's Twitter, Instagram, that's the world we live in. I'm not a fan of social media at all."

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