Aussie -tennis star Alex de Minaur reveals his theory about why his girlfriend Katie Boulter has linked illness -making online abuse – and even death threats against her family

Alex de Minaur has supported his British fiancé and colleague tennis player Katie Boulter after she had opened the abuse of social media that she receives.

Boulter shared her experiences with BBC Sport to emphasize the problem of professional players who received toxic messages online.

The examples of the 28-year-old include a message that she had to ‘buy candles and a coffin for your entire family’ with a reference to her ‘grandmother’s grave if she is not dead by tomorrow’, one stating that she would ‘go to hell’ because she had cost it, and another explained ‘hope you get cancer’.

Boulter said: ‘I just wonder who the person was sent. I don’t think it’s something I would ever say to my worst enemy. It’s just a terrible, terrible thing to say to anyone. It’s terrible.

“It shows how vulnerable we are. You really don’t know if this person is on site. You really don’t know if they are around or if they know where you live or something. ‘

After the interview, a dismissal called on the minaur to be held responsible for ‘angry gamblers’.

Katie Boulter shared her experiences to emphasize the problem of players who received constant toxic messages online

‘It is great for her to perform and shine a light here, something that happens to every tennis player. Every athlete I would say, “he said.

‘Hopefully there is something that can be done about it. It is something that has been going on for a while. It is something that many people have spoken out of, but it does not change. ‘

Boulter believes that much of the abuse comes from gamblers who have lost money and spoke the Minaur and his surprise destruction against Jiri Lehecka in Queen’s, agreed.

“If you lose, you don’t feel emotionally in the best, but then you also have to deal with everything that happens behind the scenes with angry gamblers,” he said.

‘I have not gone on my social media yet, but I am sure I have many people who are not too happy with my result.

‘Every tennis player on the Tour gets thousands, millions of messages every time they lose a match or they cost someone money betting on them. So it’s something you got used to.

“I would like it that it is treated or resolved in one way or another, but I am not sure what the answer is.”

The WTA and International Tennis Federation published their first report on Tuesday in online abuse of players after the launch of the threat matrix service last January.

The report reveals that 1.6 million messages and comments were analyzed, with around 8,000 aimed at 458 players identified as offensive, violent or threatening.

Five players received 26 percent of the total abuse, while 40 percent of the messages were identified as from angry gamblers.

Fifteen accounts have been identified in law enforcement because of the serious and productive nature of the messages, while details are shared with security teams at tennis events to prevent people who have access to locations.