The legalization of sports betting has coincided with a sharp increase in abusive online behaviour directed at women’s tennis players, Canadian Leylah Fernandez and U.S. No. 3 Jessica Pegula said this week at the National Bank Open in Toronto.
Players report a surge in targeted abuse
Fernandez, ranked world No. 34, described how building a public social-media presence exposes players to both positive engagement and a steady stream of negativity from disgruntled bettors. She said much of the vitriol arrives with little consequence for the senders because identifying them is difficult.
“Social media, everybody’s on it ... they can tweet something positive, something negative, they can tweet threatening messages. It can be anything that they want, and more times than not there will be no consequences, because you can’t find them.”
Pegula, one of the game’s top players at world No. 3, said she regularly receives “terrible messages” regardless of match outcomes. The American said she uses platform tools such as blocking, but that some accounts resurface by commenting on archived posts. To limit exposure during competition, she often disables comments on her posts while playing.
How players are protecting themselves
Both players highlighted the reactive nature of the abuse — much of it occurs during or immediately after matches, a period when bettors are most emotionally engaged. Pegula noted she turns off comments during matches and blocks offenders; Fernandez pointed to the unavoidable publicness of players’ lives despite those defensive measures.
- Players receive harassment from sports bettors who react to match results.
- Defensive measures used include blocking users and turning off comments during matches.
- Players say it is difficult to enforce consequences because offenders are often anonymous or reappear under different accounts.
The piece also flagged a broader conversation within women’s tennis: an item in the coverage referenced that the WTA is preparing to implement gender testing, a separate issue that continues to attract debate and attention from players and officials.
Context and consequences for the WTA and platforms
While social media gives athletes control over their narratives — from personal convictions to sponsor content and behind-the-scenes glimpses — it also creates avenues for abuse that can be instantaneous and persistent. Fernandez and Pegula’s comments underscore a tension for modern athletes who rely on engagement with fans but must also manage persistent harassment.
The rise of legal sports betting in many jurisdictions has expanded the pool of highly engaged, financially invested viewers. When wagers go wrong, some bettors express their frustration directly at athletes on social platforms, often in abusive language or threats. Players say this dynamic disproportionately affects women.
| Player | World Ranking | Reported coping strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Leylah Fernandez | No. 34 | Maintains active social feed; faces threats and harassment, difficult to enforce consequences |
| Jessica Pegula | No. 3 | Blocks users, turns off comments during matches to limit abuse |
Those coping strategies provide immediate relief, but they do not solve the underlying problem: anonymity and the ability to re-create accounts allow harassers to persist. Players and observers have called on social platforms, sports bodies and regulators to develop stronger tools and policies that deter and punish targeted abuse — particularly where it intersects with the commercial expansion of legal betting.
As the WTA and other sport organisations consider policy changes — including the gender-testing measures mentioned in coverage — the emergence of betting-driven harassment adds another layer of complexity. For Canadian tennis fans and the broader sporting community, the comments from Fernandez and Pegula are a reminder that off-court wellbeing is increasingly affected by developments in technology and gambling regulation.
The conversation is likely to continue as players, leagues and lawmakers weigh how best to protect athletes while preserving fans’ access to digital interaction and the economic realities surrounding modern sport.
