Jessica Pegula faced a wave of vile messages following her early exit from the French Open and chose to publicly highlight the abuse to shed light on what she called “delusional angry bettors.”
After advancing through the first three rounds at Roland Garros, the world No. 3 was unexpectedly eliminated in the round of 16 by wildcard player and world No. 361, Lois Boisson. To make matters worse, the American tennis star became the target of online abuse from bettors upset over their financial losses.
In an Instagram Story, Pegula posted: “A thread on the insane people that bet on tennis. Viewer discretion advised (seriously).”
One particularly offensive message read, “Just quit playing tennis and enjoy your father’s money! You are literally the most useless top 10 player ever!”
Another disturbing message targeted a tribute Pegula made for her late dog, Tucker. It accused her of intentionally throwing the match and added a horrific comment: “Can’t wait until Karma spends the block back on you. Hopefully your first born child will be a still birth.”
Pegula, 31, revealed that such hateful messages are common, often including cruel wishes that she or her loved ones suffer from cancer. “Every person on tour deals with it. It’s so bad. Those are just really small snippets. I get told my family should get cancer and die from people on here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy,” she shared.
Although AI tools are being used to screen out abusive content, the technology is still imperfect. Tennis players continue to regularly receive insults and even threats typically from disgruntled gamblers who lost bets.
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