Montreal, Canada – Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina received a series of hateful abuses online after losing a game in Canada, including hope for her death and celebrating Russia’s killing of her countryman.
Svitolina posted a screenshot of the news on Instagram after she lost directly to Osaka in the National Bank quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
The abuse was directed at her, while other racial slander was directed at her husband, French tennis player Gael Monfils, who is black. One abuser hopes that Russia “killed all of you (Ukrainians)” in the war in the Svitolina country.
“For all bettors: I was mom before I was an athlete,” Svitolina wrote in her Instagram story. “The way you talk to women (mothers) is shameful. If your mother sees your message, they will feel disgusted.”
Earlier this year, British player Katie Boulter said she received death threats during the French Open targeting her and her family, while the WTA and ITF called on betting companies to do more to stop a large number of online abuse participants on social media from facing.
Boulter told the BBC in an interview that online abuse has become the norm, and she believes that much of the news is sent by people who bet in tennis.
Her comment coincided with the release of the first season of the WTA and ITF in the first season of online abuse report, which shows that there are 458 tennis players targets in the 8,000 abuse comments and posts on social media in 2024.
