Shocking! Players received four times more online abuse during Wimbledon 2025
The players received four times more online abuse compared to the last edition during Wimbledon 2025. Janik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final to lift his maiden Wimbledon title on Sunday.
The 2025 edition of Wimbledon concluded on Sunday, July 13, with Janik Sinner lifting the men's singles title after beating two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the final. A shocking report has revealed that the players received at least four times more abuse online, compared to the same period during the tournament in 2024.
According to a report in the BBC, the Threat Matrix system used by Wimbledon organisers detected 1,902 pieces of abusive content sent to players on public social media accounts, which were reported to the relevant platforms. This is nearly four times the 511 such cases reported during the corresponding week of the tournament last year.
The Threat Matrix system uses Artificial Intelligence to monitor public social media accounts of all the players, umpires and Wimbledon officials during the tournament. The system flags abusive content and posts against the players and others before a team of investigators manually analyses the flagged posts and reports them to the relevant platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
As per the data shared with the BBC, the system reported 2,916 comments/posts to the relevant social media platforms after they were verified as abusive, discriminatory or threatening till the quarter-final stage of Wimbledon 2025. These posts were picked from a total of over 2 lakh posts, both positive and negative, that were directed towards the accounts under monitoring.
Male players most targeted in Wimbledon 2025
As per the report, the male players were among the most targeted during Wimbledon 2025. This year, the three most targeted players were all male, compared to two female players in the top three in the last edition. Out of the 2,916 posts flagged by the Threat Matrix system this year, 132 were found to be of 'moderate' or 'high' threat level, prompting further investigation by concerned security and law enforcement officials.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz, who won the last two editions of Wimbledon, spoke about facing online abuse after his loss against Janik Sinner in the men's singles final on Sunday. Alcaraz admitted he faces 'cruel' online abuse. Amanda Anisimova, who lost the women's singles final to Iga Swiatek, echoed similar sentiments and admitted she was 'scared' to check her phone after her defeat.