Russian rising star Mirra Andreeva posted a screenshot of some of the hateful comments she received on Instagram after getting knocked out of the Miami Open.
The 17-year-old world No.6 suffered a 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3, loss to America’s Amanda Anisimova. Andreeva was on a 13-match winning streak after claiming back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells. It is only the fourth match she has lost so far this year out of 24 played.
Despite her surge in form, it has failed to prevent Andreeva from getting a barrage of abuse on social media. In a post, which has since been deleted, she published a screenshot of some of the messages she got with the comment ‘and this is what you get when you lose one match.’
Social media abuse of tennis players is a regular occurrence. According to one analysis by an artificial intelligence-led detection system, 12,000 social media comments and posts targeting players were found to have broken guidelines between January and October 2024. It was calculated that angry gamblers amounted to 48% of those abusive comments.
In a bid to tackle the issue, last year tennis’ governing bodies joined forces to launch a monitoring system. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) are all part of the innovation that monitors posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
At the Miami Open, Anisimova has set up a showdown against former US Open champion Emma Raducanu. She has already won a title this year which was at the Doha Open last month.
“Mirra is an amazing player. I knew it would be really tough. It was an incredible match. I was super excited to play here,” said Anisimova.
“We’ve both been playing great tennis this year. We’re both big hitters. I knew we would have a great match. She’s not someone who’s easy to play. It makes it difficult to be comfortable with my game. I’m just really happy with the way I was fighting and that I was able to try this win.”
Meanwhile, Andreeva’s attention will now switch to the clay which is a surface she is yet to reach a WTA final on. However, she did make it to the French Open semi-finals last year which is her best Grand Slam result to date.
