Katie Boulter Opened up About Social Media Threats She Received Following Some Losses

Professional tennis player Katie Boulter revealed to BBC Sports that, during the French Open in 2025, she received social media threats from angry tennis fans. Many were reportedly angry with the results of her game play and, as a result, their apparent losses from gambling on her matches. She shared with the outlet that she wanted to bring attention to a larger problem about the way the public treats athletes in professional sports, particularly younger ones.

Boulter shared candid details of the social media threats she received via DMs. She finished in second place in the French Open, and after she lost a tie-breaker, the threatening messages came in. Since Boulter came out about the threats, which were also made against her family, her Instagram has had tons of supportive comments.

Boulter shared with BBC Sports that she received death threats from tennis fans who had apparently lost money betting on her in the French Open. One message, she told the outlet, said they hope she gets cancer. Another message promised "candles and a coffin for [her] entire family." Her reason for sharing the messages with the public is that she wants to open dialogue about how such messages could affect younger professional tennis players.

"At the very start of my career, it's probably something I took very personally, getting comments about the way you look," Boulter told BBC Sports. "It becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone. I think it increases in number and it also increases in the level of things that people say. I don't think there's anything off the cards now."

She also said that it can be hard to know what social media threats are real, and could result in real-life action, and which ones are just written threats with no merit. Either way, days after the French Open, Boulter made the decision to share them to bring awareness to what other athletes may be facing.

In addition to the apparent message Boulter received following the French Open, some of her fiancé and fellow tennis player Alex de Minaur's shared critics have left comments on her Instagram posts for the world to see. One user commented on a sponsored ad on her Instagram that was in partnership with the Renaissance Paris Nobel Tour Eiffel Hotel and included de Minaur.

"Nah you are joking how can you lose to Legechka, brother please retire and start a business with cooking the same way you cook your own games," one user commented, in reference to de Minaur's match against Jiri Lehecka.

On one of de Minaur's Instagram posts on his own profile, another critic stopped by to share more negative thoughts on de Minaur's game and also on his social media content with Boulter. They wrote that if de Minaur wasn't "making stupid videos with [his] fiancée all day," he would have more time for training.