Paula Badosa says online abuse has gotten worse in recent years, urges fellow players to speak up against it more

Paula Badosa, like most of her colleagues, has not been immune to online abuse. It's something that's becoming a growing problem not just in tennis but in many sports as the anonymity of the internet has made a lot of people comfortable saying things they would never dare to speak out loud otherwise.

Athletes, though not exclusively, bear a good chunk of that vitriol, especially tennis players considering how huge tennis betting is. There is a likelihood of a tennis player being flooded with angry messages after a loss.

In the latest episode of the Tennis Insider podcast, Paula Badosa opened up about the online abuse and urged her fellow tour players to speak up. Appreciating podcast co-host Caroline Garcia for raising her voice against online hate following her US Open 2024 loss, the Spaniard said:

"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 looked back on her time as a teenager over a decade ago, noting that things weren't as bad back then as they are now because social media is way more advanced than it was a decade ago.

"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).

Keeping in mind the increased online abuse the players are facing, events such as the French Open implemented A.I backed measures to deal with the unwarranted vitriol.

---

Paula Badosa and colleagues hailed Caroline Garcia for advocating against online hate

After her first-round loss to Renata Zarazua at the 2024 US Open, Caroline Garcia was subjected to online hate, prompting the French player to share the abusive messages she had received from people online. In light of this, besides Paula Badosa, many players including Iga Swiatek and Frances Tiafoe praised Garcia for speaking up, with the former reposting Garcia's X post and writing:

"Thank you for this voice."

Nick Kyrgios sent messages of support, as did fellow players Danielle Collins and Frances Tiafoe. The Australian responded to Caroline's post, writing:

"This is digusting behaviour. Heads up Caro," Kyrgios wrote.

Amid the rising online hate and Garcia's message, former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek had expressed her concern over the toxic messages and comments that flooded tennis players' inboxes.