The world is busy finding an answer to combat online abuse. Just a few days ago, we saw Caroline Garcia sharing a long emotional message after she received numerous hateful messages for her R1 defeat to Renata Zarazua. She pointed out how “unhealthy betting” has made targeting the players on social media more of a frequent thing. Several tennis stars showed their support to her and now, Iga Swiatek has also joined in the protest. She has called out to bring more tools to help combat this serious issue. How does Swiatek’s father look at these things?

Recently, her father, Tomasz Swiatek gave an interview. During the interview, he was seen speaking a bit on this topic and thanking all of those fans who stood by her in difficult moments. He said, “I don’t mean to put her on a pedestal but to treat her like a person who also needs support is not a machine insensitive to everything. I would like her to feel appreciated even in her weaker moments. It’s great that there are many fans who give support and positive comments or messages even in difficult moments.”

Iga Swiatek’s father has represented his nation at the Olympics in rowing. So, coming from a sports background has taught him how a little bit of support can do wonders for athletes in their careers. Love and hate are always going to be a part of the journey for all athletes in the world, but still, they’ve to find their own solutions to fight this battle!

We previously heard his daughter say how “exhausting” these things can be in an athlete’s life. Although she tries to avoid those negative comments most of the time knowing there are a lot of people who speak good things about her, there are times when even her enormous tolerance level fails.

To combat such moments, Swiatek has now urged the higher officials to come up with better solutions. She thanked Garcia for her efforts to educate people on this topic and added, “Also maybe in the future, have some solutions such as using AI to make it safer for us.” Swiatek said, “I feel like we can’t be on the Internet and feel safe anymore. You have to really be careful about what you’re reading, who you’re following. I know that there are some tools that, for example, Roland Garros offered for us.”

According to the world number one in women’s tennis, she’s looking for a mobile app that would block hateful messages. “It’s also going to learn with you when you’re going to tag some messages as hateful. … It would be nice if we had more opportunities to use these kind of tools,” said Swiatek. We heard several tennis players come up with different solutions to combat this issue, and we have now also seen how the world number one in women’s tennis wants to bring a permanent solution to this problem. What does the world’s number one men’s side have to say on this, though?

After Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner also opens up on the online abuse

Jannik Sinner has faced quite a lot of criticism and hateful messages over the past few weeks due to the doping saga. So, perhaps at the moment, he’s the best person to explain how it feels to be in the spot! We all know that Grand Slam tournaments have been working actively to bring more solutions to this problem.

For example, almost two years ago, as Swiatek mentioned, the French Open partnered with a company using AI to filter those negative, hateful comments from players’ social media accounts. There has been a talk among the organizers of other big tournaments as well, but still, like Garcia said, “no progress has been made.”

During a post-match interview at the US Open, Sinner revealed, “I’m not so much on socials, especially in the last period. I try to not look. I know that there are some negative messages, but it’s something you have to be careful about.” He reflected a bit on how difficult it is for the younger players to manage these types of situations. What should they do when these types of moments arrive in their careers? Well, Jannik Sinner’s answer to this question is, “My advice is always to stick with them (close ones) because they are very honest with you.”

According to him spending time with the ones who know you well as a person and an athlete is more valuable than wasting time on these negativities. What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner, and several other players can ever get rid of these types of negativities from their lives?