Katie Boulter speaks out over online abuse faced by tennis players
The British No. 2 shared messages with BBC Sport to raise awareness of how these messages have become normalised, fearing the effect it could have on younger players.
Tennis star Katie Boulter has spoken out about the huge level of online abuse she has received over her career, including death threats and explicit pictures.
In one of the messages, a user declares, “Hope you get cancer.”
Another tells her to “go to hell”.
A third ominously urged her to buy "candles and a coffin for your entire family".
The comments directed at her loved ones came after her first-set loss during a match in the French Open; a match she ultimately went on to win.
Boulter, 28, told the BBC she took the comments very personally at the start of her career but has become better at dealing with them.
However, she expects the threats to increase once Wimbledon starts later this month.
The abuse also spikes depending on the success of her fiancé, Australian fellow tennis player Alex de Minaur, and he also receives comments depending on how well she plays.
This rise in toxic messages against athletes has been linked to the increased use of sports betting.
Figures provided to the BBC by data firm Signify showed that around 8,000 abusive messages were sent publicly to 458 tennis players on social media in 2024. Across the year, angry gamblers sent 40% of all detected abuse.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a new phenomenon.
In 2023, Judy Murray also discussed how young female tennis players receive death threats from gamblers who have lost money from betting on them.
Other tennis players have previously talked about being targeted by abuse, including current world No. 8 Iga Swiatek and former British No. 1 Johanna Konta.
Emma Raducanu has previously dealt with a stalker and reported the ‘threatening’ off-court behaviour of a man during a game in Dubai in February.
And it’s not just limited to tennis, either.
At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, defender Lauren James was subject to a torrent of abuse online after she was given a red card and sent off during a game against Nigeria.
Steps to better protect tennis players from abuse have been made.
Authorities rolled out the use of Threat Matrix in January 2024, with support from the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Women's Tennis Association (WTA), All England Lawn Tennis Club and United States Tennis Association.
But Boulter added in her BBC interview that the threats increase every time she looks at her phone. The cancer comment was particularly vile.
"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."