Wimbledon s dark side revealed: Online abuse quadrupled, but why?

The pristine lawns of Wimbledon may project an image of tradition and sportsmanship, but off-court, a disturbing trend is escalating. Exclusive data shared with BBC Sport reveals a staggering nearly fourfold increase in online abuse directed at players during the first half of the tournament compared to the same period last year. This surge in vitriol casts a dark shadow over the Championships, highlighting the intense scrutiny and negativity athletes face in the digital age.

Specifically, 1,902 instances of abusive content were sent to players on public-facing social media accounts and subsequently reported to the relevant platforms by the sophisticated Threat Matrix monitoring system. This alarming figure stands in stark contrast to the 511 detected during the corresponding week of last year's tournament, indicating a significant escalation in the problem.

Initial data, gathered up to the quarter-final stage, also suggests a notable shift in targeting. For the first time, the three most targeted players at Wimbledon were male, a departure from last year where two of the top three were female. This underscores that online abuse is a pervasive issue affecting athletes across genders.

The impact of this negativity is deeply felt by the players themselves. Following his defeat in the men's final on Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz candidly shared his experience of receiving "cruel" abuse on social media, admitting it can "affect you so much." Similarly, women's singles runner-up Amanda Anisimova told BBC Sport she was "scared" to even look at her phone after her comprehensive 6-0, 6-0 defeat by Iga Swiatek on Saturday, anticipating a deluge of negative feedback.

The AI battle against trolls: How abuse is detected

To combat this growing menace, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) utilizes the Threat Matrix service, a cutting-edge system developed by data science firm Signify. This technology employs artificial intelligence (AI) to continuously monitor public-facing social media accounts across major platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

Once the AI flags potential instances of abuse, a dedicated team of human investigators manually analyzes the flagged content. This crucial human oversight ensures accuracy and nuance, allowing for the escalation of truly abusive, threatening, or discriminatory posts. During Wimbledon, this extensive monitoring was applied not only to all players participating in men's and women's singles and doubles, mixed doubles, and qualifying rounds, but also to umpires and Wimbledon's official social media accounts.

Up to the conclusion of the quarter-final stage, a total of 2,916 posts or comments were officially verified as abusive, threatening, or discriminatory and subsequently reported to the respective social media platforms. Among these, 132 were assessed as being of "moderate" or "high" threat level, triggering further investigation for potential security or law enforcement action. A significant finding from the data highlights that "angry gamblers" were responsible for 37% of all detected abuse, pointing to a concerning link between betting and online harassment. This vast amount of abusive content was identified from a provisional total of 228,060 posts (both positive and negative) that were picked up by the system because they were directed at the monitored handles.

It's important to note that the year-on-year increase in detected abuse might partly reflect enhancements made to the Threat Matrix system since last year's Wimbledon. These improvements enable the system to capture evolving abusive terms and more effectively identify and address "troll accounts" that repeatedly post the same negative messages.

Players speak out: The human cost of online vitriol

The issue of online abuse gained significant public attention when British number one Katie Boulter revealed the "disgusting" volume and nature of social media abuse she received during the French Open, including harrowing death threats. Her courageous disclosure brought the problem back into the spotlight.

The sentiments expressed by Alcaraz and Anisimova are echoed by other top players. Taylor Fritz, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, shared his personal struggle: "If I have a bad loss or something, I don't even want to open my phone with the messages." Former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic described the messages players receive as "not human," stating: "It's thousands and thousands of messages, win or lose, with really the most horrible things you can imagine."

Bencic also highlighted the overwhelming nature of the problem, making it nearly impossible for individual players to report every instance of abuse: "[The authorities] tell us to report every bad message. But I mean, I would be doing that for years, so that's not possible."

A spokesperson for the All England Club acknowledged the gravity of the situation, affirming their commitment to player safety. "The safety and wellbeing of all players at Wimbledon is our top priority and this extends to threats and abuse made online," the spokesperson commented. "The steps we are taking with Threat Matrix means that perpetrators of online abuse should understand that they will face consequences for their actions."

As the tennis world grapples with this escalating digital challenge, the dramatic increase in detected online abuse at Wimbledon serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for more robust measures and a collective effort to foster a safer online environment for athletes.