5 most abused tennis players in 2021

Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray are the top five most abused tennis players in 2021.

Pickwise, a betting firm conducted a survey and found out that Osaka was the most abused tennis player between January 2021 and December 2021.

The survey collected 100,000 tweets and evaluated them with the intent to show the extent of online vitriol directed at tennis players.

It hopes to trigger action by respective social media owners to take action in order to against online trolls and abuse.

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka Australian Open 2022 at Melbourne Summer set.

The betting firm tracked tweets directed at Osaka and filtered them on the basis of containing abusive tags and phrases.

The most insulting tweets were sent to four-time Grand Slam champion. She got, who 32,415 abusive tweets.

She led the group of the most abused tennis players after opting out of the French Open in 2021.

Osaka pulled out of the French Open citing mental wellness and after a longstanding tussle with top tennis officials.

For the first time, she opened up battling depression and anxiety. Osaka had never before discussed her sadness in public.

She claimed that it began when she beat Serena Williams at the 2018 US Open in front of a raucous crowd that was strongly in support of her rival.

She wrote on her Instagram page: “I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris.

“The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.”

In June 2021, Osaka pulled out of Wimbledon ‘for personal reasons’. However, she committed to participating in the Olympics.

All this time, Osaka drew bile from social media users especially after saying how nervous she gets during press conferences.

When she lost the US Open 2021 to Leylah Fernandez, Osaka said she felt sad every time she lot. And when she won, it was more of a relief than happiness.

She took a break for the rest of the season to heal and only showed up in 2022 for Australian Open Grand Slam. Unfortunately, she lost.

Novak Djokovic

The Serbian has not always had it easy with social media abuse. Djokovic rekindled online abuse following his recent standoff with Australian Border Officials.

In a twist of events that saw Djokovic join the bandwagon of the most abused tennis players, he was deported from Australia.

He travelled to Melbourne in early January hoping to defend his Australian Open title under a COVID-19 exemption. What this means is that he would play despite not being vaccinated against coronavirus.

Australia’s Immigration Minister, Alex Hawke cancelled Djokovic’s visa and deported hi after a two-week standoff.

Besides his visa mix-up, his COVID-19 positive tests and refusal to be vaccinated informed his deportation.

While all the drama happened, Djokovic became the subject of abuse online.

In July 2021 after winning Wimbledon, Djokovic spoke about how damaging social media can be.

He said the abuse on these platforms should be addressed as trolls end up affecting players in a big way.

Fast-forward to Pickwise survey, there were 7,354 abusive tweets directed to Djokovic.

His hard stance on COVID-19 vaccination and the standoff in Australia fuelled these abusive tweets.

Serena Williams

The fact that the 23-time Grand Slam champion is vocal about sexism in tennis earned her a lot of racist attacks.

It got worse in 2018 after losing to Osaka in the US Open women’s single. Years later, her activism booked her a place among the most abused tennis players with 18,118 abuse tweets.

Emma Raducanu

Following her first Grand Slam victory at the US Open 2021, Raducanu became a target for online trolls.

WTA names Emma Raducanu newcomer of the Year. Photo/Sky Sport

In 2021 alone, she got 10,094 abuse tweets especially after failing to win any other tournament after the US Open victory.

For an 18-year-old to rank among the most abused tennis players is such a big deal. Nonetheless, she continues to keep her head high and learn to manoeuvre it all.

Andy Murray

The British player has not had it easy with online trolls. There were 11,732 tweets all from trolls in 2021 alone.

Murray has in the past spoken against social media trolls who spew bile whenever he falls short of his fans’ expectations.