Suffering tennis aces:

Help in the fight against hatred, mockery and death threats

Arabella Koller, who plays for Ried in the Bundesliga, also received bad news.

(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Hate, mockery and threats, even murder! Austria's best tennis pros are being bombarded with terrible messages anonymously via social media. The messages, which usually come from gamblers after losing bets, also lead to many a psychological problem. Austria's tennis association is now taking action and supporting its aces.

"How can you play tennis? You are extremely ugly. Can you die? Fucking beginner!" A tennis ace reportedly received a message with this content (see right) in February after losing at the Upper Austria Ladies in Linz.
"I hope you die and go to hell. I wish you had drowned in a pool," was written to Arabella Koller, who plays for UTC Ried in the Bundesliga. 
"Death threats, really? You guys make me sick," Tamira Paszek had also published that she too had been threatened.
As a rule, it is gamblers who shower players with hatred, ridicule and threats via social media because of their lost bets due to lost matches, sets or sometimes even just games. This is also partly the reason for some of the players' psychological problems. The association is now reacting, declaring: "The ÖTV is taking serious action against hate and violence online!"

Tamira Paszek published a death threat

(Bild: GEPA pictures, instagram.com/tamirapaszek)

Psychosocial and legal help
"It has become clear how important such issues sadly are in Austrian sport. We stand by our players and want to support them in overcoming these problems," explains ÖTV Managing Director Schweda, who is now taking action as follows. Funded by win2day, a task force has been launched. The support offered includes prevention and education on the topic, and workshops with the ZARA counseling center #GegenHassimNetz and lawyer Patricia Hofmann provide information on which actions are punishable, how to behave and how to protect yourself. If players take legal action in the form of a complaint, ZARA will provide psychosocial process support and Hofmann will provide legal support. This is to ensure that players receive psychosocial support in the event of criminal proceedings and have a lawyer on their side to enforce their rights.