Kiwi tennis players say the hate mail is from gamblers who lost money on their matches. Illustration / Paul Slater
Kiwi tennis players say the hate mail is from gamblers who lost money on their matches. Illustration / Paul Slater
WARNING: This story discusses disturbing content
Kiwi tennis player Monique Barry has revealed she receives abusive messages after losing matches on the international tennis circuit.
Barry, ranked 480 in the world, told the Herald she believes the messages are from international bettors who have gambled on her singles matches, as they are often sent with a common theme.
“‘I’m going to kill you; I hope you kill yourself; you suck,' just any possible thing that you could think of has been said to us,” Barry said.
“‘I will find you’, lots of threats, huge paragraphs about how much we suck or moments in the match.
Monique Barry in action during her match against Elina Avanesyan in the ASB Classic. Photo / Brett Phibbs, Photosport
The New Plymouth local, who played in the singles qualifiers and doubles main draw at the ASB Classic in Auckland, said the abuse started when she was 17.
It has been recurring for most of her professional career.
The now 22-year-old, who mostly plays in second-tier-professional tournaments, said the keyboard warriors will pipe up after a singles match loss.
She said many of her competitors receive similar abuse.
“That was a bit of a shock for me, but then you realise that everyone’s getting [messages], so you’re like, ‘oh, ok, it’s not just me’.”
“[We] show each other and you have a laugh and you’re just like, ‘Damn, that one was a pretty tough one to hear’.”
After a recent loss, Barry received a spam of messages from an Instagram account saying: “How can a person like you deserve to live; I hope I can meet you one day so I can drill into your skull; I pray to god that someone ends you; Incredible, 30-0 to broken, someone needs to put you down”.
After a different game, another user told her to “choke and drown ugly wh*re” and “I hope your plane, car, house all catch on fire”.
Just one example of the abuse Monique Barry has received.
Barry said she’s grown tough skin when it comes to dealing with these types of messages, however, she abusive comments are the last thing she wants to see after being beaten.
“Maybe when you’ve had a really bad loss or you might be already in a bad headspace and you have someone spamming you to kill yourself – ‘you don’t deserve to live’ – it’s pretty hurtful.
With a relatively low international ranking, Barry feels for top-seeded athletes who she thinks would receive far worse abuse.
“I can’t even imagine ... the amount [of abuse] they get.”
After five years of experience dealing with the insults, Barry is advising young players to report the abuse and not let it bother them.
Hamilton-born James Watt, who plays in men’s ITF and Challenger tournaments – a tier down from Grand Slam and ATP men’s tennis, told the Herald he receives a range of attacks from strangers to his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
“It could just be random emojis, telling you you’re useless, death threats, threats to your family, telling you to find a new job, them sending you screenshots of how much money they lost on the bet they put on you.”
James Watt and Isaac Becroft. Photo / Tennis New Zealand
“I know that other [players], sometimes their partners get messages or their parents get messages. I’m lucky I haven’t had that happen to me yet, but I feel like that’s where I draw the line.”
Watt, 24, said while he’s learned to ignore the comments, messages regarding the financial aspects of tennis will “strike a nerve”.
“They say ‘you’re never gonna make any money playing the sport, you’re never going to have a career, go back and stock the shelves at your supermarket', which is for me that’s my dream to have [tennis] be my job where I can pay my bills and create a life for myself with it.
“You take that a little bit to heart,” Watt said.
He said dealing with the abuse is a double-edged sword. He could make his social media accounts private so abusers are unable to send messages and comments on posts, however he needs a public profile for sponsorship opportunities and to connect with supporters and followers.
“The bettors and the betting companies are actually making quite a lot off these tournaments just from us playing. But then we, as the players, don’t get a whole lot of prize money – and then we get abused for it afterwards when we don’t win.”
Watt often receives screenshots from the punters stating how much they’ve lost.
“There’s been a couple of people who [bet] $50 and they’re pretty upset. There’s been other people who put a couple of $100.
“There was one guy who put €2000 on me... Obviously, they’re not making very good financial decisions.”
Watt said betting has a place in tennis at the second-tier level as it helps generate some revenue for the players. However, he wants to see better software and regulators that help limit hate messages.
ITF identify 12,000 abusive posts and comments
Live scoring and streaming of matches on the International Tennis Federation circuit are readily available online. Many international sports betting platforms – including the TAB in New Zealand – offer a range of betting options.
In December 2024, the ITF unveiled the findings of a co-ordinated approach to combat online abuse against players, officials and the wider tennis family.
The ITF, WTA, All England Lawn Tennis Club and United States Tennis Association came together in 2023 to launch Threat Matrix, which monitors public-facing social accounts for abusive and threatening content on X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.
It also provided support for players who receive abuse or threats via private direct messaging.
Between January and October 2024, the service monitored 2.47 million posts. Of these, about 12,000 posts and comments were verified as abusive.
ITF’s director of integrity and legal, Stuart Miller, told the Herald their advice to athletes is to not fuel the abusive fire.
“We’re aware of the issue. We’ve put something concrete into place to support players through the latest of technologies to help us understand not only the scale of the issue, but the nature of it.
“Our message to players is don’t engage with the abusers, don’t give them oxygen.”
He said it would be naive to suggest that a ban on tennis gambling would solve the issue of abuse toward athletes.
“Yes, there are undoubtedly people who abuse tennis players because they are disgruntled gamblers.
“However, if the premise is that we shouldn’t allow betting on tennis because that’s what’s causing the problem, and therefore stopping betting on tennis will stop the problem – that’s a false premise.”
FOR HELP:
TAUTOKO Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 TAUTOKO (0508 828 865). A free, nationwide service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Netsafe, for online harm reports: 0508 638 723, text Netsafe to 4282, Netsafe.org.nz.
Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Feverpodcast, and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.
