‘Stillbirth, cancer, trash can’: Pegula exposes chilling cyberbullying

In recent Instagram stories, world No. 3 Jessica Pegula exposed some of the vile and disturbing messages she regularly receives online—so frequently, in fact, that she has grown used to them. The American tennis star believes that this level of abuse is uniquely intense in the world of tennis, claiming other professional athletes don’t endure the same constant wave of internet hate.

Much of this abuse comes from angry bettors who target players after losses. It’s an all-too-common part of life on the tennis tour, and many players have voiced their frustration about it. In 2023, Roland Garros took a step in combating the issue by implementing an AI-powered system designed to protect players from toxic messages online. The software allowed players to connect their social media accounts and automatically block abusive comments across platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Discord, and Facebook.

This year, there has been no mention of the system’s continuation. Anyone know what has happened?

After suffering a surprising loss to world No. 361 wildcard Lois Boisson at this year’s French Open, Pegula shared just a few of the countless cruel messages she’s received. Notably, Pegula pointed out that 99% of the abusers are men.

Some of the dreadful messages included:

“Just quit playing tennis and enjoy your father’s money! You are literally the most useless Top 10 player ever.”“Trash can,” accompanied by several trash emojis.“Hopefully your first born child will be a still birth.”“Somewhere in the world there is a tree that’s working really hard to produce the oxygen that you waste.”“Low class and suuuck in every skills.”

One of the most heartbreaking examples came after Pegula shared the unexpected passing of her dog, Tucker. Cyberbullies responded with:

“Tucker wants to know why you can’t hit the ball straight.”“Tucker is better off without this loser.”

Though Pegula says she’s largely desensitized to this kind of hate, it still adds an extra layer of emotional burden.

“Every person on tour deals with it. It’s so bad,” she wrote. “Those are just really small snippets. I get told my family should get cancer and die from people on here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy.”