Professional tennis players were subjected to more than 12,000 abusive social media posts during the 2025 season, including thousands classified as serious threats, according to a new report released by the WTA and World Tennis.
The WTA and World Tennis have released their second annual report on online abuse targeting professional tennis players, revealing the scale of harassment players face on social media and the extensive efforts being made to combat it.
Throughout the 2025 season, more than 10,000 players and officials were protected by the AI-powered Threat Matrix service, which monitors online abuse across X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.
The system combines artificial intelligence with human expertise, as analysts review and assess content in 57 languages before specialist investigators gather evidence on the most concerning accounts. The information is then shared with Tour and tournament security teams to help prevent potential real-world threats.
According to the report, the Threat Matrix service analyzed more than 1.2 million social media posts and comments during the 2025 season. Of those, more than 12,000 posts were classified as abusive, while 3,726 were identified as serious abuse, including violent, sexual, racist and targeted threats directed at players.
The report also showed that coordinated action is producing results. Threat Matrix investigations led to the removal of 66% of serious abusive posts or comments, while 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were escalated to law enforcement.
The impact of enforcement measures was also reflected in repeat offender data. Eighty-nine percent of accounts responsible for serious abuse in 2024 did not reappear in 2025, suggesting that identifying and taking action against offenders is helping reduce continued abuse.
The report also found that a relatively small number of accounts were responsible for the majority of the most severe abuse. Just 9% of abusive accounts generated 87% of all content classified as “high concern.” Overall, prolific offenders accounted for 49% of all detected abuse, an increase from 43% in the previous year’s report.
Another major finding highlighted the continued role of gambling-related abuse. According to the report, angry gamblers were responsible for 42% of all verified abuse detected during the 2025 season and 59% of all serious abuse, both figures showing that betting-related frustration remains one of the biggest drivers of online harassment in professional tennis.
The report is based on data collected through Threat Matrix, an initiative delivered by Signify Group in partnership with Theseus Risk Management and investigations specialists Quest. The service covers all WTA and World Tennis players throughout the season and forms part of the tours’ ongoing efforts to identify abusive accounts, investigate serious threats and improve player safety online.
The WTA and World Tennis said protecting the wellbeing of players remains a top priority, adding that while progress has been made, further action from social media companies, law enforcement agencies and the gambling industry will be essential to reducing online abuse in the future.
