ATP Tour Reveals Alarming Figures of Social Media Abuse Against Players
The ATP Tour announced on Thursday that its Safe Sport initiative has detected more than 162,000 abusive comments on social media directed at players during its first year of operation. According to the information provided, more than 3.1 million comments were analyzed, hiding the most severe ones from the 245 players who were the target of these attacks. Safe Sport uses real-time artificial intelligence to detect and hide abusive comments on players’ accounts. The initiative was launched in July 2024 and is available to the top 250 singles players and the top 50 doubles players.Azzopardi added that “more than 1 in 10 comments on players’ posts were abusive, reaching 50% in extreme cases”. “Although it will not eliminate abuse overnight, it is our first line of defense. Safeguarding the well-being of the players is a long-term commitment”. Safe Sport also provides support to players facing threats via email, impersonation, deepfakes, and scams.This initiative has fundamentally changed the way we protect our athletes online.
Andrew Azzopardi, Director of Protection of the ATP
