Professional tennis players have spoken out about social media abuse. Photo / Getty
Professional tennis players have spoken out about social media abuse. Photo / Getty
Professional tennis players have revealed they regularly receive brutal social media abuse from gamblers.
A special report by Telegraph Sport investigated the sports social media abuse epidemic and examined the impact of gambling and spiralling online threats.
Rachel Hogenkamp, world No 100, revealed the sickening details of online abuse she received after a disappointing narrow loss to Ana Konjuh in Holland last June.
"I hope everyone in your family will die from brain cancer. I hope someone will kill you with 2 bullets! I lost $1500 because of you f****** bitch. U had everything you f****** machine for UE [unforced errors]. If I ever find you I will break your lrgs (sic) f****** ugly s***. You are the ugliest person I ever saw! F****** ugly fat scum," the comment read.
Hogenkamp's story was described as "remarkably unremarkable" and an example of the constant reality professional player's face with the proliferation of in-game betting.
Rachel Hogenkamp said she has received death threats from gamblers. Photo / Getty
Telegraph Sport spoke to 20 players about the rising issue, all who agreed were subject to abuse after every defeat and almost always received at least one death threat.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has become a huge business since it struck a massive £52 million (NZ$97 million) deal with Swiss-based betting company Sportsrader.
The ITF provides Sportsradar with data for matches at all levels from Future events (lowest of the professional circuit) to the Davis Cup and as a result, tennis has become the third most bet on sport globally.
British tennis player Jay Clarke said the rise of gambling has played a major role in the increase of online abuse.
Sad to share but I think its important for you all to know what most players of colour across all sports have to put up with daily #Sameoldpic.twitter.com/WJEvNq7anj
— Jay Alexander Clarke (@JayClarkeNo1) June 12, 2017
"Every single player gets messages like these ... It must all be to do with gambling. That's the only thing I can think of because they don't know me or really care if I win or lose."
"People always send me pictures of monkeys but I've had way worse than that. When I was in the States, they sent one to my mum about me when I was losing a match. I don't want to repeat what they said," Clarke told Telegraph Sport.
Up-and-coming tennis star Jay Clarke said he regularly receives racist social media abuse. Photo / Getty
After defeat at the ATP World Tour in November, doubles legend Bob Bryan said social media abuse had become something he expected after every match.
"Abuse? Death threats? It's every match. If I go check my phone now there will be some crazy gamblers that are upset with me," he said.
Bruno Soares, who sits on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Player Council, said "it's a serious issue and one which the council has had to take a big look at".
"When it started, it was a lot of abuse from fake accounts but we've had a lot of abuse recently from normal accounts, and this is pretty scary. John Isner had a death threat in Paris from a guy with a big social media following so I think this is a legitimate crime and abuse."
"And you never know, if he's crazy enough to say something to me on social media, he's crazy enough to see me in the street and do something," Soares said.
Clarke said the ITF should consider banning betting at Future events but the federation has yet to take any action.
