ATP launches cutting edge AI-powered service to protect players from online abuse

The new service will be made available to the Top 250 ATP singles players and the Top 50-ranked doubles players, on a free and opt-in basis, starting this month. It combines AI technologies from Sportradar and its partner, Arwen AI, to scan players’ social media channels for toxic and abusive comments, spam and bots across 29 languages. Flagged comments are automatically hidden in real time, protecting players and their followers from being exposed to offensive content. Arwen currently processes 600,000 comments a day, protecting over 750 million followers globally across Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube and TikTok.

In parallel, Sportradar's dedicated team of intelligence analysts will actively investigate threats and potential criminal comments to unmask those responsible, linking online activity to real-world consequences. Players will also be offered an educational programme covering topics such as handling abuse, mitigating online risks and maintaining integrity on social media platforms.

Safe Sport is ATP’s most comprehensive initiative to date to combat online abuse, a long-standing and prevalent issue in sport, and a key part of protecting player wellbeing.

Andrew Azzopardi, ATP Director of Safeguarding, stated: “The ATP is committed to safeguarding players and their wellbeing. This includes taking a proactive stance against online abuse, which has become a very important issue in the lives of modern athletes. This collaboration will ensure that tennis is playing its part in tackling this issue, and shining a light on the effects that harmful online discourse can have on our communities. We’re grateful for the support of TDI and the expertise of Sportradar in making this happen.”

Matthew Ebden, ATP Player and Player Advisory Council President, said: “Online abuse has become a real issue for so many professional athletes, as it also has for so many others online in general all around the world. Safe Sport is a game changer and has been developed specifically to help fix this problem.”

Andreas Krannich, Executive Vice President, Sportradar Integrity Services, added: “This partnership is groundbreaking in sport as we’re bringing together AI-driven auto-moderation, education and investigative services for the first time. The Safe Sport solution offers players better protection from online harm, representing a significant leap forward in safeguarding mental and physical wellbeing, enabling them to concentrate on delivering their best performances.”

A multi-year partnership between TDI and Sportradar began at the start of 2024, providing the sports technology company with global data and streaming rights for betting and media data rights for all ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events. Additionally, Sportradar supplies Integrity Services to safeguard those competitions against betting-related match fixing and corruption, including monitoring and addressing integrity threats and risks through due diligence and investigation support.