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ATP, Tennis Data Innovations and Sportradar teamed up for Safe Sport, a service that addresses online abuse directed at professional tennis players. The collaboration is a first in that it integrates Artificial Intelligence moderation, investigation and education into a single service for protecting athletes.
Starting this month, the new service will be available for free to the top 250 ATP doubles and singles players as well as the 50 ranked ATP doubles players. The service combines AI technology from Sportradar with its partner Arwen AI to scan social media channels of players for abusive and toxic comments, spam, and bots in 29 languages. Flagged comments will be automatically hidden, in real-time, to protect players and their fans from offensive content. Arwen processes over 600,000 comments a week, protecting 750,000,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram (Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok.
Sportradar will also have a dedicated team of analysts who will investigate criminal threats and comments in order to identify the perpetrators, linking online activities to real-world outcomes. A programme of education will be provided to players on topics like handling abuse, reducing online risks, and maintaining integrity in social media.
Safe Sport is ATP’s most comprehensive initiative yet to combat online abuse. This issue has been a persistent and widespread problem in sport for many years and it’s a critical part of protecting the wellbeing of players.
Andrew Azzopardi is the ATP Director for Safeguarding. He said, “The ATP has a commitment to protecting players and their well-being. It is important to take a proactive approach against online abuse. This has become an increasingly significant issue for modern athletes. This collaboration will make sure that tennis plays its part in combating this issue and shining a spotlight on the harmful effects of online discourse on our communities. “We’re grateful to TDI for their support and Sportradar for its expertise in making this possible.”
Matthew Ebden is the ATP Player and Player Advisory Council’s President. He said that online abuse had become a serious issue for many professional athletes. It has also been a problem for many other people on the internet in general. Safe Sport has been designed to solve this problem.
Andreas Krannich is the Executive Vice President at Sportradar Integrity Services. He said, “This partnership represents a first in sport, as it brings together AI-driven automoderation, educational services, and investigative services. Safe Sport offers players greater protection against online harm. This represents a significant step forward in safeguarding their mental and physical well-being, allowing them to focus on delivering the best performance.
