​Female tennis players faced more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media last year, a new report has shown.The data comes from the Signify Group’s Threat Matrix service, which aims to identify and tackle online abuse against players and officials.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe 2025 data shows a similar number of abusive posts compared to 2024, which was the subject of an inaugural report commissioned by the WTA and World Tennis, with 3,726 of those categorised as serious abuse.The report claims significant progress has been made, with 66% of serious abuse removed, while 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were escalated to law enforcement agencies.There was an increase in abusive accounts identified through investigations from 39 to 68, while 89% of the accounts that were responsible for serious abuse in 2024 did not reappear last year.Many players have spoken out about the harmful effects of online abuse, and the data shows it remains a serious and ongoing problem, with angry gamblers responsible for 42% of verified abuse in 2025 – a 2% increase – and 59% of serious abuse.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA statement from the WTA Player Board read: “The abuse directed at players online is unacceptable.“While it comes from a relatively small number of accounts, its impact can be significant. It’s reassuring to know the WTA and World Tennis are taking this seriously, supporting players and making it clear that this kind of behaviour isn’t acceptable.“The progress highlighted in this report demonstrates the value of working collaboratively across the sport and with our partners to identify abusive behaviour, support players and take meaningful action against those responsible.”The Threat Matrix service is an AI-led initiative supported by human analysts that assesses content across social media platforms X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe WTA and World Tennis are calling on betting companies to adopt their own investigative tools to identify those responsible.The two governing bodies said in a statement: “Insight from this report is crucial to helping us broaden our knowledge of the issue and take decisive action to protect victims of vile online abuse by punishing those responsible.“While today’s findings illustrate the effectiveness of that action to date, further significant progress requires collective action from social media companies, law enforcement, governing bodies and the gambling industry, and we will continue to proactively advocate for that.”