The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) have unveiled the first ever report on the scale of tennis player abuse on social media.
Threat Matrix, a service based on artificial intelligence and the work of analysts including risk and threat assessment specialists, was launched in January 2024. This service monitors posts on major social platforms in more than 40 languages and covers approximately 8,300 players.
From January to December 2024, Threat Matrix analyzed about 1.6 million posts and comments, identifying about 8,000 offensive posts from 4,200 accounts. Measures were taken against the most serious offenders, and data on 15 accounts was forwarded to law enforcement agencies.
During the year, 458 players faced direct insults or threats. Five tennis players received 26% of all detected insults, and 97 active accounts were responsible for 23% of all such messages.
