{"id":85336,"date":"2025-06-18T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=85336"},"modified":"2025-06-17T15:44:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T19:44:46","slug":"boulter-exposes-dark-side-of-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/06\/18\/boulter-exposes-dark-side-of-tennis\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s Horrible, It Really Is\u201d: Katie Boulter Exposes the Dark Side of Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>British tennis star Katie Boulter offered a raw and unsettling insight into the relentless online abuse professional players endure, revealing the shocking messages she received during this year\u2019s Roland Garros tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old, currently Britain\u2019s No. 1 women\u2019s tennis player, spoke openly about the scale and nature of the hateful messages, many of which cross deeply personal and dangerous lines.<\/p>\n<h2>Boulter speaks out<\/h2>\n<p>Reflecting on the disturbing message from a social media user that read, \u201cI hope you get cancer\u201d, Boulter shared her immediate reaction:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I just wonder who the person is that has sent that, you know. I just wonder if they&#8217;re in that deep, that tough of a place. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s something that I would ever say to my worst enemy, let alone to anyone at all, or even think it. It&#8217;s just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boulter added it was just one of the harrowing messages and the kind of vitriol players can face following matches, whether they win or lose.<\/p>\n<p>For Boulter, it wasn\u2019t just the insult itself but the terrifying uncertainty it left in its wake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBringing your family into it, talking about even the subject of death \u2014 it just kind of shows how vulnerable we are,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou really don&#8217;t know if this person is on site. You really don&#8217;t know if they&#8217;re nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that. And I think for me personally, it makes me feel, yeah, very vulnerable. And it&#8217;s so sad to see someone actually type that out \u2014 it\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;I hope you get cancer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>No player should suffer social media abuse like this\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Tennis star Katie Boulter has shared some of the &#8220;disgusting&#8221; and &#8220;horrible&#8221; messages she regularly receives online.<\/p>\n<p>The British number two says some threats leave her feeling &#8220;very vulnerabl <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z5bN3ooOrB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/z5bN3ooOrB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BBC Sport (@BBCSport) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BBCSport\/status\/1934857289673908424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 17, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>A Widespread Issue in Modern Tennis<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Boulter\u2019s experience is far from unique. In recent years, numerous tennis players \u2014 both male and female \u2014 have spoken out about the online abuse they receive, often from anonymous accounts, and frequently linked to sports betting losses.<\/p>\n<p>Following a defeat, players are regularly bombarded with offensive messages, threats of violence, and calls for self-harm.<\/p>\n<p>Grand Slam events like Roland Garros and Wimbledon have made efforts in recent years to curb this behaviour by increasing moderation on social media platforms and offering mental health resources for players, but the problem persists.<\/p>\n<p>Boulter\u2019s willingness to publicly confront the abuse is part of a growing movement within the sport, as more athletes refuse to stay silent about the mental and emotional toll of online harassment. For many, the hurt caused by anonymous messages can far outweigh the physical demands of the sport.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"bCnOGveWSSxskMkUmq-4dg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2219876385\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'bCnOGveWSSxskMkUmq-4dg',sig:'nrDXQMLnyt5TI2IbmwNieS6SBE8QoRmE-KZ2Xm9DXJ4=',w:'594px',h:'385px',items:'2219876385',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>While tennis enjoys a global following, its digital spaces have increasingly become arenas of unchecked hostility.<\/p>\n<p>Boulter delivered a stark truth about the reality of life as a public figure in today\u2019s hyper-connected world: \u201cIt\u2019s horrible. It really is,\u201d highlighting the need for both sporting bodies and social media companies to take stronger, proactive measures in protecting athletes.<\/p>\n<p>For those behind the screens, perhaps her words serve as a reminder that every message sent has a real human being on the other end.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke &#8211; USA TODAY Sports<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British tennis star Katie Boulter offered a raw and unsettling insight into the relentless online abuse professional players endure, revealing the shocking messages she received during this year\u2019s Roland Garros tournament. The 27-year-old, currently Britain\u2019s No. 1 women\u2019s tennis player, spoke openly about the scale and nature of the hateful messages, many of which cross [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4883,"featured_media":68698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[42975,1225,3949,364],"class_list":["post-85336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wta","tag-2025-roland-garros","tag-katie-boulter","tag-sports-gambling","tag-wta-tour"],"modified_by":"Shane Black","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4883"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85336"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85383,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85336\/revisions\/85383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}