{"id":513907,"date":"2026-03-04T14:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513907\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:49:14","slug":"tennis-star-claims-she-was-sent-photo-of-a-gun-in-chilling-threat-before-indian-wells-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513907\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis star claims she was sent photo of a gun in chilling threat before Indian Wells match"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Italian tennis player<\/a> has revealed she and her family were subjected to threats, including a photograph of a gun, before a qualifying match at the prestigious Indian Wells tournament<\/a> in California.<\/p>\n

Lucrezia Stefanini believes the intimidation was an attempt to manipulate the match outcome for betting purposes.<\/p>\n

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Stefanini, ranked 138th in the world, shared her ordeal in a video posted on Instagram from the BNP Paribas Open on Monday.<\/p>\n

“I received a WhatsApp message in which I was threatened over winning yesterday\u2019s match. They threatened me and my family and named my parents, the place where I was born and they sent me a photo of a gun,” she explained.<\/p>\n

Despite the alarming pressure, Stefanini went on to play her first-round qualifying match against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, ultimately losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n

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\"Stefanini<\/p>\n

Stefanini says she was sent a photo of a gun (Getty)<\/p>\n

The WTA 1000 event is considered the highest level in women\u2019s tennis outside of the Grand Slams and WTA Finals.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m making this video and explaining what happened because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right to put me under this pressure and unease before a match,” Stefanini stated, adding that she immediately alerted the WTA, which provided her with increased security.<\/p>\n

“The entire tournament mobilised to make me feel safe. Despite it all, I fought until the end to try and win my match, because I can\u2019t permit these people to intimidate me.”<\/p>\n

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Angelo Binaghi, president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, condemned the incident as “intolerable.”<\/p>\n

He remarked: “Sending images of weapons, knowledge of personal information and intimidation toward an athlete marks an increase of disturbing quality that doesn\u2019t have anything to do with sports.”<\/p>\n

Binaghi added that those who attempt to influence matches through fear “should know that they have entered criminal territory. This kind of behaviour deserves an immediate legal response.”<\/p>\n

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The incident follows a similar threat made via social media to another Italian player, Mattia Bellucci.<\/p>\n

The International Tennis Integrity Agency routinely collaborates on investigations into match-fixing, while the WTA and International Tennis Federation reported last year that they had tracked 8,000 online posts and comments labelled as abusive, violent or threatening in 2024.<\/p>\n

Efforts are underway to employ artificial intelligence to block such menacing comments.<\/p>\n

Binaghi stressed that beyond “identifying and punishing those responsible,” a “drastically strengthened international system” is essential to ensure the safety of athletes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Italian tennis player has revealed she and her family were subjected to threats, including a photograph of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[203729,49,48,203728,46411,74104,4552,203727,82,593,114195],"class_list":["post-513907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-angelo-binaghi","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-indian-wells-tournament","tag-international-tennis-federation","tag-lucrezia-stefanini","tag-match","tag-qualifying-match","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-victoria-jimenez-kasintseva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}