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Marketa Vondrousova was subjected to death threats and online abuse following a hard-fought defeat to Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open. This isn't the first time the Czech has been on the receiving end of hateful comments.
Vondrousova has been struggling to get back to her best level for over a year with her form and injury struggles posing a huge impediment in her path. She had a disappointing start to the 2025 season by picking up an injury which caused her to miss out on the Australian Open following which she made her return to the court at the Abu Dhabi Open.
The Czech kicked off her campaign on a positive note with a statement 6-3, 6-4 win over Emma Raducanu and then ousted fourth seed Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final 8. However, an in-form Belinda Bencic ended Vondrousova's run 7-5, 6-3.
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A defeat for an athlete is enough to make them feel disappointed in themselves, however, Marketa Vondrousova became the victim of online abuse. A lot of tennis players have been on the receiving end of online abuse, usually coming from gamblers, in recent times. However, the players have started fighting back by raising their voices against it, and Vondrousova did the same via her Instagram:
One of the abusers commented on a post about the Czech paying tribute to her late grandfather, which she sarcastically called her 'favorite one'.
This is not the first time Marketa Vondrousova has shared the hate messages she has received following a defeat. Interestingly, Paula Badosa and Caroline Garcia recently discussed how the players must start speaking about this issue.
Days before Marketa Vondrousova suffered online abuse, Paula Badosa and Caroline Garcia discussed the severity of the issue
Days before Marketa Vondrousova was subjected to online abuse, Paula Badosa and Caroline Garcia discussed the issue on the latter's podcast, Tennis Insider Club. Badosa was grateful to Garcia for raising her voice against the death threats and online abuse she suffered following her 2024 US Open exit, an act which was commended by the tennis fraternity.
The Spaniard wanted more players to come forward and fight back.
"That's why I really appreciate what she (Garcia) said a few months ago and I resposted that and everything because it was great. We need to speak up more about it and I think it's very imporant to start to do all these things and to speak up. We have a voice for something, we have a platform," she said (13:37 onwards).
Badosa also mentioned how social media has made the situation worse.
"When we were 15, 16, we didn't have it that much. It (social media) was more private. Now it's worse," Badosa said (at 14:25).
Last year, Coco Gauff said she loved using the block button to eliminate angry gamblers, whom she dubbed 'annoying'.
