Former world quantity eight Daria Kasatkina says the abuse acquired by gamers on social media is “fully uncontrolled”.
The 26-year-old Russian shared screengrabs of threatening messages despatched to her after she reached the WTA Elite Trophy semi-finals in Zhuhai.
One mentioned she “ought to be lifeless”, with one other blaming her for dropping a guess.
Kasatkina’s experiences are yet one more instance of the net abuse which continues to be directed at gamers.
It’s a long-standing downside which has affected tennis, the place gamers report they’re usually focused by gamblers, and different sports activities.
In Might, American Taylor Townsend shared a screenshot of the dying menace and racist abuse she acquired in an electronic mail after dropping on the Italian Open.
At this yr’s French Open, organisers supplied gamers on the match synthetic intelligence-protection from social media abuse.
The Bodyguard know-how aimed to filter out abusive feedback on Fb, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Discord.
Poland’s four-time main winner Iga Swiatek, who signed up to make use of the initiative, mentioned it made “no sense to learn” feedback as a result of they led to having “unfavourable emotions and ideas”.
Social media platforms have mentioned they’re dedicated to tackling abuse, with Instagram introducing a software in 2021 to allow customers to routinely filter out abusive messages from these they don’t observe on the platform.
Earlier this yr, a WTA spokesperson mentioned the governing physique works with a danger evaluation and administration firm to close down social media accounts when warranted.
“Participant security is the WTA’s primary precedence,” the spokesperson added.
“The WTA has been working for a number of years to teach and counsel gamers on this problem, because the variety of gamers affected continues to extend and it is an essential problem we take very significantly.”
