The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Sportradar and Tennis Data Innovations (TDI) have teamed up on a new athlete abuse prevention program.
The Safe Sport service is designed to tackle the abuse of professional tennis players online. It utilizes data from Sportradar and the AI tools of the company’s Arwen AI partner to scan players’ social media for abusive comments, bots and spam. Arwen AI processes 600,000 comments daily, protecting users across various high-traffic social media sites.
The ATP says that by using a combination of AI, education, moderation and investigation, the goal is to protect players from harassment online. The technology will be available and free to use for the Top 250 ATP singles players and the Top 50-ranked doubles players on an opt-in basis. Players will also be able to access a range of educational materials on how to handle online abuse in a way that doesn’t compromise integrity and mitigates risk.
Any threats or other flagged social media content will be investigated by Sportradar’s intelligence analysts to identify and take action against those responsible.
“The ATP is committed to safeguarding players and their wellbeing,” said ATP Director of Safeguarding Andrew Azzopardi. “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 bringing together AI-driven auto-moderation, education and investigative services for the first time,” added Sportradar Integrity Services EVP Andreas Krannich. “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.”
Safe Sport extends Sportradar’s partnership with ATP
The Safe Sport launch fortifies Sportradar’s multi-year partnership with TDI and ATP.
The organizations announced in December a multi-year agreement that gave Sportradar global data and streaming rights for the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events, with the aim of driving commercial growth for tennis and enhancing fan engagement.
As part of the collaboration, Sportradar’s took its ATP Service+ suite of solutions live. The suite seeks to offer new ways for fans and bettors to engage with tennis through “next-generation, value-add products and services.” It includes augmented streaming, expanded in-play betting markets, short-form video highlights and personalized and targeted betting products.
