Elina Svitolina has revealed some of the vile messages she received after her defeat against Naomi Osaka at the Canadian Open. The Ukrainian was sent death threats and was falsely accused of corruption by social media trolls.
Osaka sealed a 6-2 6-2 victory in the quarter-final and progressed to face Clara Tauson. Svitolina returned to her phone to find that she had been sent death threats. The world No. 14 received messages from people hoping that she would die, wrongly accusing her of ‘selling matches’, and wishing that Russia would kill ‘all Ukrainians’. Svitolina believes that many of the sick messages come from people who have lost bets on her match.
She shared screenshots of selected Instagram messages on her story. Svitolina wrote: “To all the bettors: I’m a mom before I’m an athlete. The way you talk to women – to mothers – is SHAMEFUL. If your moms saw your messages, they’d be disgusted.”
Nick Kyrgios showed solidarity with the 30-year-old, responding: “Disgusting.”
Increased social media abuse has been a major talking point for players over the past few months. Ahead of Wimbledon this summer, British star Katie Boulter revealed that she had received death threats and other horrific messages from people who had lost money on her matches.
The 28-year-old told the BBC: “At the very start of my career, it’s probably something I took very personally… getting comments about the way you look. It becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone.
“I think it increases in number and it also increases in the level of things that people say. I don’t think there’s anything off the cards now. As far as death threats, it’s just not something you want to be reading straight after an emotional loss. A lot of the time you get it after you win as well.
“I think it just kind of shows how vulnerable we are. You really don’t know if this person is on site. You really don’t know if they’re nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that.”
Asked about receiving death threats, Boulter added: “I just wonder who the person is that has sent that. I don’t think it’s something that I would ever say to my worst enemy. It’s just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone. It’s horrible.”