[Music] [Music] world number 28 Caroline Garcia pointed to sports betting as the driver behind some of the hundreds of hateful messages she has received online after losing a match following her first round loss in the US Open French tennis star Caroline Garcia shared just some of the hundreds of hate-filled messages including violent threats that she has received after losing matches Garcia who has seen her ranking fall from a career high of number 4 to number 28 told her more than 170,000 followers on X Wednesday that the hatred athletes receive online concerns her for future Generations it really worries me when I think about younger players coming up that have to go through this Garcia said people that still haven't yet developed fully as a human and that really might be affected by this hate maybe you can think that it doesn't hurt us but it does we are humans the 30-year-old believes the growing popularity of sports gambling is driving the hate on social media tournaments and the sport keeps partnering with betting companies which keep attracting new people to unhealthy bedding Garcia wrote the days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone yet here we are promoting betting companies which actively destroy the life of some people don't get me wrong I'm not saying they should be banned as people are free to do whatever they want with their money but maybe we should not promote them also if someone decided to say these things to me in public he could have legal issues Garcia continued so why online we are free to do anything shouldn't we reconsider anonymity online it was a message that res ated with world number six tennis star Jesse Pula who shared Garcia's statement and then echoed the same sentiment yep the constant death threats and family threats are normal now the 30-year-old Pula replied win or lose it's nothing new for athletes and other prominent individuals in the public Spotlight to be openly criticized online but it does raise questions about the potential influence that sports betting may have on the hateful online rhetoric from so-called fans Americans wagered more than $31 billion on sports events in the second quarter of this year according to the American gaming Association a 35% increase from a year prior meanwhile a 2022 study by the data science company signify found that one in four players competing in professional tennis tournaments that year were subject to abuse online International tennis Federation president David Hagerty previously said in a statement to signify that it's a serious problem for athletes that must be addressed tennis must be a sport in which players can compete to the best of their ability he said free from any form of harassment [Music]