Australian tennis player Priscilla Hon says she is «pretty prone» to online abuse, but said that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable for angry gamblers to insult her and wish her a cancer diagnosis. Hon, who is ranked 158th in the world, posted screenshots of some of the online abuse she receives from her.
Last week, Hon reached the semi-final at the ITF event in Canberra. After losing to fellow Australian Lizette Cabrera, Hon was apparently subjected to horrific online abuse.
Hon: It’s sad that this is happening.
«I just spoke to SBS about all the hate we tennis players get every week.
I think I would speak for most of us when I say that we’re pretty prone, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay. It’s sad that humanity drops to this level just because of losing a bet on a tennis match,» Hon wrote on Twitter.
I just talked to SBS about all the hate tennis players get every week. I think I would speak for most of us when I say that we’re pretty prone, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay. It’s sad that humanity drops to this level just because of losing a bet in a tennis match.
pic.twitter.com/4ly3ctfLUm — Priscilla hon (@pribo98) October 17, 2022
Earlier this year, World No.1 Iga Swiatek spoke out on the subject of online abuse in tennis. Swiatek, who is now the face of women’s tennis, stressed that it is something very serious that needs to be addressed.
“I recently played against Andreea Prisacariu in Poland’s Billie Jean King Cup match with Romania and I know she said afterwards that she had received bad messages because she lost. I don’t know exactly what happened in this case, but I do know that there is hate and that it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.
A lot of times it’s a person gambling and losing money, this seems to be a ‘reason’ for some of the abuse, but keep in mind that many of these messages are actually read,» Swiatek wrote in his column for the BBC Sport in May.
Online abuse in tennis is not new. For many years, tennis players have been posting screenshots of the insults they receive after matches.
