By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Photo credit: Brad Penner/USTA
NEW YORK—Betting firms boost tennis’ bottom line.
Hate frustrated gamblers inflict on players has crossed the line—and tennis authorities are doing little to stop it, says Caroline Garcia.
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Former world No. 4 Garcia shared some of the “hundreds” of hateful personal attacks cyberbullies hit her with online after Mexican Renata Zarazua upset her 6-1, 6-4 in the US Open first round.
Some of the hateful messages were both violent and vile.
“I hope your mom dies soon,” one message read.
“I hate you so much,” another troll posted.
A 2022 US Open semifinalist, Garcia said players are paying a steep emotional price for tennis’ lucrative sponsorship pacts with betting firms.
“It really worries me when I think about younger players coming up, that have to go through this,” Garcia posted on Instagram. “People that still haven’t yet developed fully as a human and that really might be affected by this hate.
“Maybe you can think that it doesn’t hurt us. But it does. We are humans. And sometimes, when we receive this messages we are already emotionally destroyed after a tough loss. And they can be damaging. Many before me have raised the subject. And still, no progress has been made.”
Pointing to the fact, the WTA Tour once took criticism for partnering with cigarette-maker Virginia Slims as Tour title sponsor, Garcia said neither the Tours not the tournaments have done much to prevent online abuse and protect players.
“Social media platforms don’t prevent it, despite AI being in a very advanced position,” Garcia said. “Tournaments and the sport keeps partnering with betting companies, which keep attracting new people to unhealthy betting.”
Garcia said tennis gambling “actively destroys the [lives] of some people.”
While she’s not calling for a ban on tennis betting—or on tournaments accepting advertising money from betting firms—Garcia finds it unsettling and absurd, trolls can make anonymous threats against players online, yet would face charges in many nations for making verbal threats.
“The days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone. Yet, here we are promoting betting companies, which actively destroy the life of some people,” Garcia said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should be banned as people are free to do whatever they want with their money. But maybe we should not promote them.
“Also, if someone decided to say this things to me in public, he could have legal issues. So why online we are free to do anything? Shouldn’t we reconsider anonymity online?”
So why are are tennis tournaments and some tennis media so committed to betting sponsorships?
The short answers are:
Money
Interest
Money
Endemic sponsors simply don’t have the resources to fund tennis sponsorship while betting sponsors spend freely, which is why you are often seeing odds and spread before and even during televised tennis tournaments.
Asked about the integrity challenge the sport faces with its growing dependence on betting sponsors, USTA CEO Lew Sherr said the fact tennis “is the second most wagered sport on the planet” certainly increases engagement, but also raises questions of responsibility.
“Sports betting sponsorship is permitted here at the majors. All of the events in tennis operate by the same rules,” Sherr told the media on the USTA's pre-tournament Zoom call. “Whether you're a 1000, whether you're a Grand Slam, a 250 or 500, the rules are no different in terms of sponsorship and how we integrate with the sports betting marketplace.
“Tennis is the second most wagered sport on the planet. We have seen instances where that betting activity certainly leads to greater engagement and interest and more following in our events and the like.
"We right now are focused more on the integrity aspect of the betting category and making sure that we are working closely with the tennis integrity group to make sure we're tracking all of that wagering activity, that we're supplying the data in the appropriate ways so it can't be manipulated and it can be authenticated and validated.”
The hate directed at Garcia is the latest example of a Grand Slam loss sparking major menacing and hostility from online trolls.
At the 2021 US Open, No. 43 Shelby Rogers scored the biggest win of her life rallying from 2-5 down in the final set and prevailing in a razor-thin tiebreaker in shocking world No. 1 Ash Barty 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5) to reach the Flushing Meadows fourth round.
Depleted by that win and a physical 7-6-in-the-third set doubles defeat on Sunday, a deflated Rogers dropped 11 straight games losing to 18-year-old Emma Raducanu 6-2, 6-1 in lopsided Labor Day loss. That defeat eliminated the final American woman standing in the 2021 US Open singles draw and unleashed a torrent of torment online against Rogers.
In candid comments after her loss to the British qualifier, Rogers said she expected to receive “9 million death threats,” presumably from disgruntled gamblers and social media trolls.
“Obviously we appreciate the spotlight in those moments, but then you have today and I'm going to have 9 million death threats and whatnot,” Rogers told the media after her fourth-round loss.
“It's very much polarizing, one extreme to the other very quickly. At this point in my career, I'd say I'm used to it. It's just now for me, like I said, finding a way to, okay, have those big wins but then be able to back it up a little bit. Yeah, it's not easy, to say the least.”
Garcia said she doesn’t expect cyberbullies to change, but hopes the terror trolls will remember players are “also a human being, trying [their] best in life.”
For now, don’t expect the line connecting gambling and tennis to move too far.
It seems tennis will continue doubling down with the betting firms largely bankrolling the sport.
“What we are seeing in other sports, certainly here in the United States, is sports wagering creates more interest, more fandom in the game. Obviously that needs to be done responsibly,” Lew Sherr told the media in the USTA's pre-tournament Zoom call. “We feel good about where we sit right now. Certainly for the sport of tennis we are seeing more engagement…
"Tennis is not in the top five in the popularity of sports. Even in the United States, tennis is the fourth most wagered sport in the country.”