'It's hard to contain it' Boulter reveals scale of online abuse sent to her and others

Katie Boulter has revealed the extent to which she has been targeted by online abusers who have sent death threats, explicit pictures and toxic comments during her matches.

- Neil Squires

The British No 2 believes much of the abuse comes from gamblers who have lost money.

Boulter, aiming for a hat-trick of victories at the Nottingham Open, opened her defence with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win against the world No 44, Lulu Sun, but it was the grim catalogue of hate posted online that Boulter had earlier made public in an interview with BBC Sport which was the talk of the tournament.

One message sent to the 28-year-old during the French Open said: "Hope you get cancer", another told her: "Go to hell. I lost money my mother sent me," while a third told her to buy "candles and a coffin for your entire family" and threatened to damage her "grandmother's grave if she's not dead by tomorrow".

After her victory in Nottingham, Boulter said she realised people simply did not know the extent to which tennis players were being abused. "I looked on my phone this morning and there were hundreds of messages of people reacting to it [the interview]," she said. "Every single person was telling me to disregard it and how much they loved me and how much they appreciated me bringing this subject to light. I don't think people were aware how much it happens to players.