Caroline Garcia says she declined working with an unnamed betting company due to the industry being ‘one of the biggest sources of pressure, abuse, and hate in modern sport.’
The former world No.4 is the founder of the Tennis Insider Club, a podcast that has conducted interviews with a series of high-profile figures, including Iga Swiatek, Garbine Muguruza, Justin Henin, Dominic Thiem, Mirra Andreeva, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. It currently has more than 53,000 followers on Instagram.
Garcia, who retired from tennis earlier this year, confirmed on Sunday that she was offered a $270,000 sponsorship deal from a betting company, which she later rejected. The 32-year-old explained that she doesn’t want to work with the gambling industry due to its influence on the amount of online abuse players receive on the Tour. During 2024, an investigation into 12,000 social media posts deemed abusive towards players found that 48% of those posts were from angry gamblers.
“It’s a huge amount of money, especially for an independent sports show and for me, someone who just retired from pro tennis,” said Garcia.
“Over the past two years of interviewing players, coaches, agents, and parents, one theme keeps coming back again and again: betting has become one of the biggest sources of pressure, abuse, and hate in modern sport.
“Every player, from Top 10 stars to ITF grinders, has stories. DMs full of insults after a match. People demanding money back because they lost a bet. Even death threats. Not because of sport. Because of gambling.
“I do not want Tennis Insider Club to contribute, even indirectly, to a system that fuels addiction, destroys lives, and turns athletes into daily targets.”
Elaborating further, Garcia states that she is ‘not on a moral crusade’ and doesn’t criticise those who enter into deals with betting companies. For example, Stake is a betting partner of the Davis Cup.
“I am simply choosing what we want to stand for, and what we do not want to amplify. Our mission is to tell real stories from inside tennis, inspire people, and grow the sport in a way that is healthy for athletes and fans,” she said.
“Taking betting money would move us in the opposite direction. And if we expect athletes to trust us enough to be vulnerable on the podcast, to share their fears, doubts, and mental health battles, then we need to show them that we choose values over money.
“$270k is a lot. But building something long term, honest, and good for the sport is worth more.”
During her playing career, Garcia has spoken publicly about abusive messages she has received online, posting screen shots of messages saying she should shoot herself, insults to her family and being called a ‘piece of S**t.’ Garcia has previously called for the sport to reconsider its relationship with betting companies.
The Frenchwoman won 11 WTA titles during her career, including the 2022 WTA Finals. Her best Grand Slam performance was reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open.