Tennis - U.S. Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, United States - August 29, 2024 Poland's Iga Swiatek in action during her 2nd round match against Japan's Ena Shibahara REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
(Reuters) -Five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday called for the sport's governing bodies to provide players with more tools to combat online abuse after Caroline Garcia spoke about the hate she received on the internet.
On Wednesday, Frenchwoman Garcia said she received online abuse after her first-round loss at the U.S. Open and blamed "unhealthy betting" as one of the main reasons players are targeted on social media.
The ITF, WTA, AELTC and USTA in December launched a monitoring service named Threat Matrix, which uses a combination of artificial intelligence and open-source data, to help protect their athletes.
The French Open has also made AI-powered software available for players, which is designed to block online harassment and hate speech.
"It would be nice if we can do more as (Garcia) did and try to educate people. Also maybe in the future, have some solutions such as using AI to make it safer for us," Swiatek told reporters after her victory over Ena Shibahara.
"I feel like we can't be on the internet and feel safe anymore. You have to really be careful on what you're reading, who you're following. I know that there are some tools that, for example, Roland Garros offered for us.
"This app that we can have on the phone, and it's going to block the hateful messages. It's also going to learn with you when you're going to tag some messages as hateful or comments, you know... It would be nice if we had more opportunities to use these kind of tools."
World number six Jessica Pegula said she had done her best to avoid looking at comments on her personal social media, but still received abuse through the account made for her skincare brand.
"There was this girl that does my social media for my company Ready 24, and she said 'you know, you're getting a lot of really bad messages'," Pegula told reporters.
"I laughed because it's so normal for me. I'm like, 'Oh, no, don't worry, it's nothing.' She was gravely concerned that I was getting death threats... It's not normal, but it's totally normal for us. It's so bad that it's come to that point."
Men's world number one Jannik Sinner, who has been under intense scrutiny at the U.S. Open over a doping case even though he was cleared of wrongdoing, said receiving hateful messages was part of being an athlete.
"I'm not so much on socials, especially in the last period. I try to not look. I know that there are some negative messages, but it's something you have to be careful about," Sinner told reporters after his win over Alex Michelsen.
"Especially when you are younger because you care a lot about your reputation, but then at the end of the day, that's why you have the close ones and they know you as a person and as an athlete.
"My advice is always to stick with them because they are very honest with you."
Russian Karen Khachanov, who was beaten by Britain's Dan Evans on Tuesday, urged people to be respectful and not "strike a man when he is down".
"I will be grateful for all the support that I get," he added in post on Instagram.
"Let's be kind to one another. Less hate and more love and the world will become a better place."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Jamie Freed)
