When the crowd goes online: how 12,000 abusive posts turned women’s tennis into a harassment battlefield in 2025

Short version: last year women’s tennis didn’t just battle for trophies — it also waded through a torrent of online abuse. A joint review from the sport’s governing bodies found more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages aimed at female players in 2025, and some of that abuse was terrifyingly serious. This isn’t a stats exercise; it’s about players feeling unsafe, platforms being pushed to act, and a familiar culprit — disgruntled gamblers — showing up as the biggest identifiable source.

The headline numbers — what the report actually says

The analysis wasn’t a small sampling. The WTA and World Tennis report looked at over 1.2 million posts and comments across 2025. From that pile, more than 12,000 were flagged as abusive toward female players.

That’s a big total, but the report breaks out something even starker: 3,726 of those posts were classified as “serious abuse.” That’s the category that includes violent and sexual threats, racist slurs and direct targeted threats — the kind of stuff that crosses a line from ugly to potentially criminal.

There was a sliver of good news: according to the report, platforms removed 66% of the serious abuse they were notified about. So reporting systems and takedown mechanisms are doing work — just not enough to make the problem go away.

Who’s sending the abuse? Spoiler: it’s often about money

The most eye-openingly ugly part of the report is who’s behind a lot of this behaviour. Angry bettors accounted for a huge chunk of the abuse.

• The organisations identified that disgruntled gamblers were responsible for 42% of verified abusive posts in 2025.
• Even more alarmingly, they made up 59% of the posts classed as serious abuse.
• That’s up from 48% of abusive posts coming from gamblers in 2024.

Put simply: when a bet doesn’t go your way, some people react by trying to intimidate the players. That explains a lot of the timing and the venom — abuse spikes around matches and big tournaments, not in a vacuum.

Why gamblers feature so heavily

There are two easy-to-understand dynamics here. One: losing money provokes anger, and social media gives a direct, immediate outlet for that anger. Two: betting markets and live betting make outcomes feel personal — a poor serve or a missed break point suddenly represents real cash lost, and some users lash out.

The report doesn’t speculate beyond the data, but the numbers make the link obvious. When the bulk of verified abuse is coming from a single identifiable group, you can’t treat the problem only as a moderation issue; there’s an intersection with gambling behaviour that needs attention.

When abuse becomes a police matter

Some of this crossed from nasty tweets into potentially criminal territory. BBC reporting says law enforcement were notified about 35 accounts tied to 12 individuals.

That’s not the same as arrests or convictions, and the report doesn’t give details on outcomes. But it does show that the volume and content of messages was serious enough that the governing bodies felt it necessary to involve the police in multiple cases.

What that really means

Not all abuse will trigger criminal investigation — that depends on content and local laws — but notifying police shows the bodies behind the sport are escalating. It also signals to platforms and to fans that some behaviour won’t be shrugged off as “just online”.

How players are coping — the human side of the numbers

Numbers are useful, but they only tell half the story. The other half is how it lands on the people actually on tour.

BBC reporting included a grim line from a player who said abuse and threats can start to feel “normal.” That’s the worst possible outcome: when threats and harassment are so routine that they become background noise for someone who should be focused on training and match prep.

Think about that for a moment. Tennis is a sport that already asks players to manage nerves, travel, physical strain and media scrutiny. Adding a steady stream of targeted online abuse — some of it violent or sexual — is a pressure cooker situation that can affect mental health and performance.

Are platforms doing enough? Mixed signals

The report offers a mixed verdict. On the positive side, 66% of serious abuse instances identified were removed, which suggests platforms and the WTA’s reporting pathways are functioning better than they have in the past.

But “removed” isn’t the same as “prevented,” and the overall volume of abuse stayed roughly level with 2024. So takedowns help, but they’re reactive. You can take down a tweet after it’s been posted and read by thousands, but you can’t unring the bell.

What removal rates don’t tell us

Removal rates don’t show how fast platforms acted, whether the same accounts reappeared under different names, or how many abusive accounts were deactivated only to be replaced. The data we have doesn’t answer all of those questions, so it’s fair to say progress is real but incomplete.

So what can be done? Short-term and longer-term fixes

There’s no single silver bullet here. Fixes need to come from several places at once.

• Better moderation and faster takedowns. The 66% removal rate is evidence that this helps, so it should be pushed higher.
• Closer cooperation with betting companies. If gamblers are the largest identifiable source, betting operators and regulators have a role to play in identifying abusive patterns tied to accounts and transactions.
• Clearer consequences. The fact that 35 accounts linked to 12 people were referred to police shows escalation is possible; making those pathways standard and transparent would change the cost-benefit for abusers.
• Support for players. Counselling, legal assistance, and clear in-tournament policies that protect players’ privacy and safety are essential.

These are straightforward ideas, but none are easy. Platforms have to balance free expression with safety, betting companies have to act without unfairly scapegoating all bettors, and sporting bodies have to marshal resources across jurisdictions.

What the WTA is saying — and why they describe this as “progress”

The WTA framed the figures as showing “significant progress” in the fight against online abuse. That’s their assessment in the report and worth quoting: it reflects the higher removal rate for serious abuse and more robust reporting systems.

But the WTA also acknowledges the volume of abuse remained broadly similar to 2024. That’s the uncomfortable middle ground: better at damage control, but still dealing with the same level of attacks.

Reality check: what the report doesn’t cover

Important to be clear: this report and the articles about it are focused on online abuse and safeguarding. They’re not about injuries, transfers or betting markets in the sense of odds and predictions.

If you were hoping for data on how abuse affects match results, or whether certain tournaments see worse problems than others, the public report and the press coverage don’t give reliable info on those angles yet.

FAQ — what fans actually want to know

Q: How many abusive posts were there in 2025?

A: The WTA and World Tennis report found more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages aimed at female players over the year, from an analysis of over 1.2 million posts and comments.

Q: How many of those were really serious?

A: The report classed 3,726 posts as serious abuse — violent, sexual, racist or targeted threats.

Q: Who is responsible for this abuse?

A: The biggest identifiable group were disgruntled gamblers. They made up 42% of verified abusive posts and 59% of the serious abuse cases, up on 2024 figures.

Q: Are platforms removing the content?

A: According to the report, 66% of the serious abuse instances were removed after being flagged, which shows some progress in takedowns and reporting systems.

Q: Did any of this go to the police?

A: BBC reporting says law enforcement were notified about 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals. That indicates some cases crossed into potentially criminal territory, though the report doesn’t detail legal outcomes.

Q: How are players coping with all this?

A: Beyond the stats, players have reported that abuse and threats can start to feel “normal,” a troubling sign that ongoing harassment is wearing down those on tour.

Final thoughts — what to remember

Here’s the one thing to walk away with: the sport has tools that are working better than before — more removals, more reporting — but the volume and severity of abuse stayed stubbornly high in 2025. When the biggest identifiable group behind the abuse is disgruntled gamblers, the solution can’t be only better moderation; it needs coordinated action across platforms, regulators and the betting industry, alongside support for players.

None of this is simple, and the report itself says progress has been made. That’s real, but it’s not the same as victory. For the tour’s women, “normal” ought to mean focusing on forehands and fitness, not constantly watching the replies on a post. Making that the default again should be the common goal.