By Daily Sports on January 19, 2017

Nicole Gibbs was only 17 and climbing the junior tennis rankings when the online abuse began.

What started with a few aggressive messages on her Facebook page following some of her junior matches continued sporadically when she played college tennis at Stanford University in California.

But it wasn't until 2013, the year she turned professional, "when the attacks really began pouring in," Gibbs told CNN.

When a straight-sets loss in the first round of the 2016 Moscow Open to the higher-ranked Russian Ekaterina Makarova in October led to a stream of hateful messages, the American posted a screen grab of it on her Twitter account.

"Warning: not suitable for children. Or anyone, really. This stuff is seriously an epidemic...," she wrote.

A number of surveys including a 2014 Pew Research Center study have suggested that young women have a higher chance than men to be the victims of severe forms of online abuse, including sexually threatening comments and sustained harassment, and there is a sense this is no different in professional tennis.

In the past year, a vast number of prominent female tennis players have spoken out about the abuse, which according to them often comes from disgruntled bettors venting their anger on social media after losing wagers on their matches.

"I don't think people realize for all of these matches, we get death threats," former Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys told CNN.

Male tennis players have also been on the receiving end of death threats.

Kevin Anderson, a former top 10 player from South Africa, lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year, having led 2-0 in sets. After he was abused, he tweeted: "Bummed to have lost yesterday, but at least I had a ton of death threats on facebook and twitter to make me feel better about things."

Sam Groth, an Australian Davis Cup player, told the Weekend Australian in December that even his girlfriend and family receive death threats after some of his matches and that he had handed his social media over to his agent.

Betting

With online bets on tennis increasing almost four-fold since 2011 to more than $300 million a year according to Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, and prominent events such as the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and this month's Australian Open both signing multi-year sponsorship deals with gambling companies in 2015, it seemed the sport faced a dilemma.

Some players say deals such as UK bookmaker William Hill endorsing the Australian Open and Betway sponsoring the Davis Cup and Fed Cup -- prestigious team events owned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) -- is sending out the wrong message.

Asked if bookmakers had to take any responsibility for this bullying and even death threats, William Hill said that was "akin to blaming high street chemists for doping players," while Betway said that "unfortunately the nature of social media will often highlight a vocal minority that behave in an irresponsible way."

The Betway spokesman added: "We don't see the correlation between bookmaker sponsorship and Internet bullying, which unfortunately exists in all walks of life."

"The irony is not lost on me," said the 90th-ranked Gibbs, reflecting on the relationships between tennis organizations and bookmakers.

"It's unsettling to say the least. But what can you do? If those are the sponsors that pay big money, then I'd rather have a job than not."

Steve Healy, president of Tennis Australia, a non-profit organization that organizes the Australian Open, said he "understands" those feelings.

"I think it is horrendous what takes place on social media and the abuse of players," he told CNN. "We are aware of that and appalled by it. But it is impossible to stop betting taking place. It will take place whatever." (cnn.com)

•Photo shows Nicole Gibbs

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 19, 2017

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