Tennis often looks glamorous with bright lights, trophies, and huge sponsorship deals. Away from the cameras, though, a troubling pattern has emerged. Online betting culture keeps pushing angry fans toward disturbing threats against professional players.
This week, the issue returned to the headlines at the ongoing US Open. Italian star Matteo Berrettini stepped forward publicly, describing a frightening personal experience that many casual fans never even see reported.
His story is sadly not an isolated case at all. It reflects a much wider crisis facing tennis right now, one involving gambling, technology, and the safety of players across every level of competition worldwide.
Berrettini’s chilling message from Paris
Berrettini spoke to reporters in New York after his first-round win over Stan Wawrinka. He revealed that his brother received frightening messages during the French Open from a gambler upset about the result.
The threats arrived right after Berrettini won his match in Paris. The message warned that if he did not tell Berrettini to lose, the sender would kill his entire family without hesitation.
Berrettini said that they immediately reported everything to the Association of Tennis Professionals for full review. He called the situation frightening, especially for younger players who might not know how to handle such disturbing threats.
Why angry gamblers target players
Betting-related abuse is rarely random or accidental in nature. Angry gamblers lash out immediately when a wager does not go their way, often blaming the athlete directly for their own personal financial loss instead.
Players receive threats through direct messages, public comments, and private text messages sent straight to family members. These messages often demand that a player lose on purpose or face violent consequences immediately and without warning.
This creates real and constant psychological pressure during every high-stakes match throughout the long season. Athletes must focus on competing while quietly worrying about the safety of people they love far away back home.
WTA and ATP reveal alarming numbers
A report published by the WTA and World Tennis found that angry gamblers were responsible for 42% of all verified abuse detected during the 2025 season.
The report also found that angry gamblers were responsible for 59% of all serious abuse. The findings highlight the significant role gambling-related abuse plays in online harassment directed at professional tennis players.
The report identified gambling as a major source of online abuse, while also documenting other forms of serious abuse, including violent, se*ual, racist, and targeted threats.
How tennis fights back with tech
Tennis organizations are using technology to detect and respond to online abuse. The ATP’s Safe Sport program uses real-time AI to identify and hide abusive content targeting ATP players, while the ITF, WTA, AELTC, and USTA use Threat Matrix to monitor abusive and threatening content.
In its first year, ATP Safe Sport scanned more than 3.1 million social-media comments and flagged more than 162,000 comments targeting 245 players as “severe.” The program also investigated abusive accounts and worked to appropriately escalate serious cases.
Separately, the ITF, WTA, AELTC, and USTA began a joint Threat Matrix initiative in 2023. The service went live in January 2024 to monitor abusive and threatening content affecting players and members of the tennis family.
Other players are facing similar dark threats
Berrettini is far from alone in facing this danger. Earlier this year, Italian player Lucrezia Stefanini reportedly said she and her family received death threats from a gambler before a match at Indian Wells.
Hungarian player Panna Udvardy also reported receiving threatening messages before a match in Antalya, Turkey. She said the messages threatened her family and included photos of relatives and a gun.
American tennis star Coco Gauff has courageously shared her experience of receiving disturbing death threats directed towards her family and boyfriend, highlighting the unsettling nature of such threats in the world of sports.
Little-known fact: Despite growing up in Rome, Berrettini skips both local football giants, Roma and Lazio. Instead, he’s a devoted fan of Fiorentina, a loyalty that surprises even fellow Italians.
USTA and Kalshi partnership raises concerns
The timing has drawn attention because the USTA announced a new partnership with Kalshi as the 2026 U.S. Open was getting underway. The multi-year agreement makes Kalshi the U.S. Open’s official prediction market partner.
Berrettini was asked about the partnership after his first-round victory over Stan Wawrinka. He acknowledged that betting can be enjoyable when properly controlled, but emphasized that players need stronger protection against abuse and threats.
The partnership has prompted debate about the relationship between tennis, prediction markets, and player safety. The discussion comes as tennis organizations continue to document significant levels of gambling-related online abuse.
What this means for tennis now
Many supporters argue that betting partnerships bring valuable investment and mainstream attention to tennis as a whole. Still, the clear link between gambling and threats makes this a genuinely complicated ongoing issue for everyone involved.
Berrettini’s plea was simple yet undeniably powerful to everyone listening closely at the US Open. Players deserve to compete without fearing for their families. Tennis organizations must match his urgency with real, lasting, meaningful action.
The entire sport stands at a genuine turning point right now. As betting grows ever more intertwined with tennis, protecting athletes and their loved ones must remain everyone’s top priority moving forward.
Little-known fact: Berrettini has said he didn’t love tennis much at first and tried judo and swimming instead. He returned only after his younger brother Jacopo told him, “Come back, try again, you’ll like it.”
TL;DR
- Matteo Berrettini revealed at the U.S. Open that his brother received death threats during Berrettini’s run at Roland-Garros.
- Berrettini said the messages followed one of his wins and demanded that he lose.
- He said the threats were reported to the ATP and called for stronger player protection.
- A WTA and World Tennis report found that angry gamblers were responsible for 42% of verified abuse and 59% of serious abuse in 2025.
- Other players, including Lucrezia Stefanini and Panna Udvardy, have reported serious threats linked to their matches, while Coco Gauff has also discussed receiving death threats and abusive messages.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.
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