The world’s leading men’s tennis players were shielded from more than 162,000 social media posts containing “severe” abuse in a year under a new system powered by artificial intelligence, according to the ATP.<\/p>\n
An AI-driven safety tool scanned more than 3.1 million messages sent to the world’s top 245 male players over a 12-month period and hid the abusive comments in real time. <\/p>\n
The ATP – which governs men’s professional tennis – found through its Safe Sport Initiative that one in 10 comments to the male players contained abuse, while the ratio was as high as 50% on certain players’ pages. <\/p>\n
“Safe Sport creates a healthier online environment, free from hateful comments and negative messages,” said Dusan Lajovic, an ATP player advisory council member.<\/p>\n
The ATP said more than 3,300 comments had been escalated for action to be taken in response since it started the initiative in July 2024 – making it available to the world’s top 250 men’s singles players and the top 50 in doubles.<\/p>\n
It identified 68 people who sent abuse – with 28 referrals made to the police.<\/p>\n
While a significant amount of abuse was discovered, Safe Sport was unable to detect every instant of abuse. <\/p>\n
Online abuse has been rife within the women’s game for a number of years.<\/p>\n