(Reuters) -Former world number three Elina Svitolina said she was flooded with online abuse, including death threats, after her Canadian Open defeat on Tuesday and blamed the “shameful” behaviour on disgruntled bettors.
The 10th seed from Ukraine crashed to a 6-2 6-2 quarter-final loss against four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka at the Montreal WTA tournament and later highlighted the abuse directed at her and her family.
Tennis players, like many athletes, often have to deal with the wrath of gamblers online despite the efforts of authorities to tackle the issue with measures that include the blocking of social media accounts.
“To all the bettors: I’m a mom before I’m an athlete,” Svitolina, 30, wrote in an Instagram story in which she attached screenshots of the messages that included death threats.
“The way you talk to women – to mothers – is SHAMEFUL. If your moms saw your messages, they’d be disgusted.”
Some of the abusive messages Svitolina shared referenced the ongoing war in her country following Russia’s invasion.
A study undertaken by some of the various governing bodies of tennis said that angry gamblers were responsible for nearly half of all the abuse that was directed at players on social media last year.
Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia said after her loss at last year’s U.S. Open that “unhealthy betting” was one of the top reasons players were targeted and took aim at social media platforms for not doing enough to filter the abuse.
She had said that it hurt players, especially after tough losses when they were “emotionally destroyed” and she worried about how younger players would be affected.
Reuters has contacted the WTA for comment and details of their latest efforts to combat the issue.
Svitolina’s husband and fellow professional Gael Monfils had humorously hit back at gamblers after an early loss in Stuttgart this year, with the 38-year-old saying he was surprised people still put money on him to win against much younger opponents.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)
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