Aussie tennis players Matthew Barton and Andrew Whittington reveal the abuse they cop from online trolls on social media

AUSSIE tennis players say they cop daily barrages from online trolls who blow up their social media accounts, upset with results that cause them to lose money on bets.

Michael Randall

2 min read

September 6, 2016 - 8:00PM

Andrew Whittington says he tries not to let abuse from online trolls affect him.

Tennis

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“DIE in hell”.

“Loser”.

“You’re the worst player.”

“You should quit tennis.”

These are the some of the messages Australian tennis players are greeted with when they open their social media accounts after hard fought matches on tour.

Talents like Andrew Whittington (ranked 183) and Matthew Barton (194) say online trolls have no shame and the abuse is often linked to gambling on the matches they play in.

Matthew Barton actually retweeted some of the nastiness directed at him on Twitter.

Melbourne tennis ace Whittington has had a fantastic year in 2016, winning 53 matches in Challenger and Futures competition and losing just 14.

But he says his Twitter and Facebook accounts are swamped by angry punters after a loss — and sometimes even after a win.

“It’s something I try not to let affect me,” Whittington said.

“You’ve just got to go out there and do what I do, day in, day out, and if they’re not happy with it, they’re not.

“You just block all that crap out and move on.

“It can even happen after a win. I guess I’ve screwed their bet somehow. They’ve bet on the other person to win or something.

“People get a bit angry about it.

“But you’ve just got to have a laugh about it and move on.”

Some horrible words directed at Andrew Whittington on Twitter.

Sydney’s Barton, who made the second round at Wimbledon this year, said 99 per cent of the negative comments directed at him on social media were linked to betting.

“I think the majority of the hate mail is to do with someone who has lost a bet ... 99 per cent of it is that,” he said.

“To be betting on stuff like that where they don’t have a lot of knowledge and then send a nasty message, it’s pretty stupid.

Matthew Barton says he laughs off the online abuse, but some players are not so thick-skinned. Picture: Getty Images

“At my level at the moment, it’s random.

“We’re not (Andy) Murray or (Roger) Federer, it can go either way.

“It’s a personal attack. I’m sure guys like (Nick) Kyrgios, he would cop it a lot more than I do.”

Neither says they are affected by the abuse, preferring to “laugh it off” or “use it as motivation” but Barton said players as young as 17 were copping it.

He said a teenage doubles player on the women’s futures tour was subjected to abuse.

“She told me and she showed me as well,” Barton said.

“She was upset about it, but I just told her don’t look into it, laugh it off and let that motivate you.”

This punter was not pleased when Barton lost his US Open qualifier to Jan Satral.

So often does the abuse happen, that Whittington says he speaks with other players on the tour about what will be sent to them next.

“(Aussie) Luke Saville’s another one, we say when we lose, ‘I wonder if the boys got around us’, and that’s saying I wonder if one of the guys has messaged us saying how much they hate us,” he said.

“It’s a bit low life

“It shows you what kind of people are out in this world and how low they’ll really go to put you down.”

The Herald Sun has contacted Tennis Australia for comment.