No. 3-ranked WTA player Elina Svitolina shared that she received substantial online abuse after losing in the quarterfinals at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
Key Takeaways
- Svitolina received death threats and messages referencing the Russian invasion of Ukraine after her quarterfinals loss to Naomi Osaka.
- The tennis star publicly condemned the abuse, highlighting the misogyny and violent threats she and her family received.
- The incident comes as the WTA and ITF released a report showing that 40% of all online abuse aimed at players last year came from “angry bettors.”
After losing her match in straight sets to Naomi Osaka, the Ukrainian shared screenshots of frustrated gamblers sending messages that included death threats and messages celebrating Russians killing her fellow Ukrainians in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War.
"To all the bettors: I'm a mum before I'm an athlete," Svitolina wrote in an Instagram story she shared Wednesday. "The way you talk to women - to mothers - is SHAMEFUL. If your mothers saw your messages, they'd be disgusted."
Svitolina also shared screenshots of the messages on her Instagram, with screenshots using vulgar language that evoked death threats and sexual violence.
Notes also targeted her husband, fellow top tennis player Gael Monfils, with racist language, given his Guadeloupean background.
Not the first to face abuse
Svitolina is far from the first player to deal with these insensitive messages across social media.
Earlier this year, Katie Boulter shared that she received death threats against her and her family during the French Open, with both the WTA and ITF calling for betting companies to take action to do more to protect and prevent the athletes offered on their books.
"At the very start of my career, it's probably something I took very personally... getting comments about the way you look," Boultertold told the BBC back in June. "It becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone. I think it increases in number, and it also increases in the level of things that people say. I don't think there's anything off the [table] now."
American Jessica Pegula also reported abuse that she received on social media, calling sports bettors "insane and delusional."
The news of Svitolina facing threats also comes just as the WTA and ITF published their first season-wide report into online abuse. Among the findings of the report, an astonishing 40% of all abusive messages reportedly came from “angry gamblers,” with over 450 players targeted by more than 8,000 messages in 2024 alone.
