The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Tennis Data Innovations (TDI), and Sportradar have launched the "Safe Sport" service, aimed at addressing online abuse towards professional tennis players.
The service utilizes a variety of technologies and services, including artificial intelligence, education, auditing, and investigations, with the goal of protecting athletes. The technology will be available for free to the top 250 ATP singles players and top 50 doubles players, who can opt in voluntarily.
The artificial intelligence technology for Safe Sport is provided by Sportradar and its partner, Arwen AI. This AI tool scans players' social media for abusive comments, bots, and spam, automatically hiding flagged messages in 29 languages. Currently, Arwen AI processes 600,000 comments daily, protecting users across platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter), and TikTok.
Furthermore, Sportradar's intelligence analysts investigate comments that include threats or criminal content, identify those responsible, and take serious action against cyber misconduct.
Players also have access to a range of educational materials on how to handle online abuse, maintain cyber integrity, and reduce online risks.
At the launch event, ATP Director of Safety Affairs Andrew Aroseti stated, "ATP is committed to protecting the athletes and their well-being. This includes actively addressing cyber violence, which has become a significant issue in the lives of modern athletes. This collaboration ensures that tennis has its part in addressing this issue and reveals the potential impact of harmful online speech on our community."
Andreas Krannich, Executive Vice President of Sportradar Integrity Services, added, "This is the first time that AI-driven automatic moderation, education, and investigation services have been integrated together. The Safe Sport solution provides better online harm protection for players, representing a significant step forward in protecting physical and mental health, enabling them to focus on performing their best."
This release marks a part of a multi-year collaboration between Sportradar and TDI announced in December, wherein Sportradar provides data, streaming rights, and media data rights for the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour.
