KATIE BOULTER REVEALS ONLINE ABUSE HAS REACHED 'ASTRONOMICAL' LEVELS
- Christian Montegan
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
British No.2 Katie Boulter has revealed the relentless abuse, including death threats, she receives online, noting that this time of year before Wimbledon is "pretty astronomical".
The world No.39 recently lost a tight three-set encounter to Russian talent Diana Shnaider at the Queen's Club Championships last week.
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Ahead of her first-round clash against Lulu Sun at the Nottingham Open, Boulter sat down with BBC Sport to share her unfortunate experiences with online threats.
"I receive a lot of messages from people who, most of the time, are betting on tennis, and I don't personally love getting those messages," she said.
"But it's something that I just flick to the side now, and I don't see too much, but I'm obviously very well aware that the youngsters that are coming up are also going to be receiving these messages, and they might have more of an impact on them.
"At the very start of my career, it was probably something I took very personally. Getting comments about the way that you look, or the way that you've played, or many other things.
"As far as death threats, it's just not something you want to be reading straight after an emotional loss. Even a lot of the time, you get it after you win as well. It depends which way the person has bet.
"Wimbledon for me would probably be pretty astronomical. I wouldn't even know how many I get because I really don't look at them... this could be on posts, it could be in your DM's (direct messages), it could be pretty much anywhere."
She was then shown a screenshot of a message which read, "I hope you get cancer".
"I just wonder who the person is that has sent that," Boulter continued. "I just wonder if they're in that tough of a place.
"It's just an awful, awful thing to say to anyone. It's horrible, it really is."
After being presented with another screenshot message talking about her grandmother and coffins, she added, "For me personally, it makes me feel very vulnerable."
The 28-year-old has been preparing for the lead-up to Wimbledon with her partner, Alex de Minaur, as the Aussie revealed that a recent hit with Boulter didn't spark any tennis enjoyment on the grass.
Just last week, Frenchman Gaël Monfils exposed bettors who abused him online, simply asking, "Who is the dumbest?", after explaining his troubled injury history.
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