Ukrainian tennis player player Elina Svitolina has spoken out about the deluge of hateful abuse she received online from frustrated gamblers after losing her match on Tuesday at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
The messages included wishing her death and celebrating Russia killing her compatriots.
Following her straight-sets loss to Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals in Montreal, Svitolina posted screenshots of the messages on Instagram.
The abuse was directed at her, while other racial slurs also targeted her husband, the French tennis player Gael Monfils, who is Black.
One abuser hoped that Russia “kills all you [expletive] Ukrainians” in the war raging in Svitolina’s country.
“To all the bettors: I’m a mum before I’m an athlete,” Svitolina wrote in her Instagram story. “The way you talk to women — to mothers — is SHAMEFUL. If your mothers saw your messages, they’d be 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 stem the flood of online abuse players face on social media.
Boulter told the BBC in an interview that online abuse has become the norm and that she thinks many of the messages are sent by people who are placing bets on tennis matches.
Her comments coincided with the WTA and ITF publishing a first season-wide report into online abuse, showing that 458 tennis players were targeted by more than 8,000 abusive comments and posts on social media in 2024. The report said 40 per cent of the abuse came from “angry gamblers.”
Victoria Mboko needed just over an hour to pick up the straight sets win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
