Women’s tennis has been a topic of mainstream conversation lately. Not for the tennis itself, but for the treatment of female players on and off the court.
First, news outlets drew attention to men’s matches getting the primetime slots at the French Open, one of the four majors (or grand slams) of the year. The ABC’s Catherine Murphy went so far as to say the French open is “erasing” women’s tennis while this Women’s Agenda, shared world number one Aryna Sabalenka’s comments that women’s matches should also be getting evening slots.
The criticism of match scheduling at Roland Garros followed similar criticism of scheduling at the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year.
Now the online abuse that female players attract is gaining attention following British player Katie Boulter’s interview with the BBC this week. Boulter shared the level and nature of abuse she receives through private messages on social media platforms, including comments like “I hope you get cancer”.
As someone that follows both the men’s and women’s tours closely, I have noticed for some time the public social media abuse that women players receive.
Boulter’s compatriot Emma Raducanu consistently attracts a barrage of negative comments from “keyboard warriors”. The 23-year old who is currently ranked 36 in the world was a surprise winner of the 2021 US Open, the fourth major each year. Following her early career breakthrough she has struggled to back up this level with several early exits from tournaments and absences due to recurring injuries.
BBC Sport’s Facebook announcement this week that Raducanu has assumed the British number one ranking include comments like: “(i)s that because she is the only British tennis player?”, “(h)er sponsor is band aid”, “(w)onder what her injury will be when she goes out in the first round at Wimbledon?”. This is a player who reached the fourth round, or last 16 out of 128 main draw players, at the 2024 Wimbledon championships. All of the above comments were written by male Facebook users.
Raducanu has also dealt with stalking since developing a public profile. In 2022, she took out a restraining order against a stalker who went to her home up to three times. Earlier this year, another man displaying “fixated behaviour” attended one of Raducanu’s matches in Dubai leaving her noticeably shaken.
This week, it was reported that this same man attempted to purchase tickets to the upcoming Wimbledon tournament but was blocked by Wimbledon. A number of public comments in response to BBC Sport’s Facebook post on 17 June about the Wimbledon block made light of stalking, including “stalking surely to point out her horrible tennis”, to 49 likes, and “I wouldn’t worry, she won’t be in it [the tournament] long”.
Earlier this month, French tennis player Lois Boisson received disparaging online comments about her appearance during her run to the French Open semi-finals in which she defeated a number of top players. Facebook comments included “looks like a guy, really. Even has a slight Adam’s apple” and “who is this guy?”
While male players are not immune to trolling, the level and nature of comments directed towards some female players seems disproportionately vitriolic compared with their counterparts on the male tour.
While tennis players choose to compete in a sport with a public profile and stand to earn significant prize money at the top of the game (with men’s and women’s prize money now equal at the majors), and potentially considerable earnings from endorsements, there is no place for social media abuse.
Social media abuse is of course not restricted to tennis and there are many live conversations around how best to manage it. In tennis, the Women’s Tennis Association has called for social media companies to do more to protect women players.
Media outlets can play a role by not generating ‘click-bait’ headlines on their social media pages. They can also turn off comment functions on their Facebook pages. They can actively manage their pages and delete comments that cross the line.
Social media companies should be shutting down profiles of offending commenters in an attempt to change behaviour. Journalists can also ask responsible questions in media conferences, to which players must front up win or lose, which do not generate headlines for the sake of headlines.
As an individual sport, tennis is already brutal for the physical and mental pressure it places on young athletes. We should be doing more as a society to protect the well-being of tennis players off the court.
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