Last week, Italian player Lucrezia Stefanini revealed that she received death threats and threats from her family if she did not miss her qualifying match against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva. Stefanini revealed this before his match – but as you’d expect, he’s still defeated, distracted by the fact that his attacker knew where his family lived and other shocking personal information.
Think of the situation that put Lucrezia in. Through no fault of his own, he had to choose between putting himself or his family at risk or risking a fine or ban from the WTA if he was too afraid to disobey the rules. To say it is not allowed is to underestimate the issue. It hurts.
Tennis is a very risky sport. In team sports events, following one player or multiple players is not a guarantee of the desired outcome – because there are other team members who can score goals, shoot baskets, or hit home runs. A tennis player is one source of influence. Robbery, done successfully, is the best guarantee of success.
Listen. Sports betting is not new; it has been legal in Europe for decades. And what happened to Stefanini is unfortunately no different. Whenever there is money and a possible way to manipulate the outcome, the worst parts of society will try it. Many years ago, there were unconfirmed but widely circulated rumors that the top player had been heavily recruited by an organized crime syndicate. Throwing a match. Under threat of death. If these rumors are to be believed, these were not empty threats made by “angry gamblers”. Because organized crime groups don’t make empty threats.
But sports gambling is more widespread now than it was in the early days. Which means that the volume of “bad parts of society” is increasing. I will give credit to both ATP and WTA. They try to fight it. Security measures such as social media scanning using AI monitoring and automatic removal of toxic or threatening messages have been implemented in an effort to protect players before they ever see them.
Major US betting companies such as Fan Duel and BetMGM have partnered with professional sports organizations to permanently ban any players found to be involved in threatening or intimidating athletes. But I am afraid that all these things are not enough. Social media gives the general public unprecedented access to athletes. You do not have to show up in person at the training ground or at the player’s house. You can find them on WhatsApp.
I can see that sports betting offers some benefits. It increases interest in tennis and often revolves around more money. But it also introduces a toxic element that has no place in professional sports. The ITF, ATP and WTA will need to continue to work to combat the scourge of intimidation of athletes through technology, better relations with betting companies, and enforcement where necessary.
