LONDON – The ATP Tour said Thursday its safe sports initiative flagged more than 162,000 abusive social media comments directed at players in its first year.
The tour scanned more than 3.1 million comments, with comments categorized as the most serious hidden from the 245 targeted players.
Safe Sport uses real-time AI to detect and hide social media comments from player accounts. It was released in July 2024 and is available to the top 250 players in singles and top 50 players in doubles.
ATP’s Conservation Director Andrew Azzopardi said the initiative “has fundamentally changed the way athletes are protected online.”
“One in 10 comments on player posts were abusive – in extreme cases it rose to 50%,” Azzopardi said in a statement. “It doesn’t eliminate abuse overnight, but it’s our first line of defense. Parental happiness is a long-term commitment.”
Safe Sport also supports players facing email threats, spoofing, deepfakes and scams.
