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\nTennis star Elina Svitolina shared screenshots of angry messages she received following her tournament loss to Naomi OsakaSvitolina, 30, called the messages “shameful”Athletes have increasingly spoken out against social media abuse in recent years, often citing a connection to frustrated sports bettors<\/p>\n
Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina<\/a> had scathing words for social media users who sent her hateful messages following a recent loss to Naomi Osaka.\n<\/p>\n Svitolina, 30, shared<\/a> a handful of screenshots of social media messages she received after Tuesday night\u2019s straight-sets loss to Osaka, 27, in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Toronto, and slammed the messages as \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo all the bettors: I\u2019m a mom before I\u2019m an athlete,\u201d Svitolina wrote alongside the screenshots. \u201cThe way you talk to women \u2013 to mothers \u2013 is SHAMEFUL. If your moms saw your messages, they\u2019d be disgusted.\u201d<\/p>\n The tennis star shared eight different slides of hateful messages she received on social media after the loss on her Instagram Stories along with her statement.\n<\/p>\n Elina Svitolina.<\/p>\n Minas Panagiotakis\/Getty<\/p>\n Some of the messages called for her death and threatened her with sexual assault. Others claimed she was \u201ccorrupt\u201d and \u201cselling matches\u201d because the outcome was different than they predicted, while other messages referenced and celebrated the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine<\/a>. Other messages included racist slurs about her husband, French tennis player Gael Monfils<\/a>, who is Black.\n<\/p>\n Afterwards, Svitolina thanked her followers for sending her supportive messages in response to the posts.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThank you so much for all your love,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt means the world to me!\u201d\n<\/p>\n Svitolina wrote another message in Ukrainian thanking her supporters for their kind words after she shared the hateful messages, writing that the support she received was \u201cincredible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Athletes across all sports have spoken out<\/a> in recent years about the increase in social media abuse they\u2019ve received since sports betting became legal and far more prominent in the United States. In June, British tennis player Katie Boulter said she and her family received death threats following a loss at the French Open, the Associated Press reported<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n