"If I didn’t lose my match today, they would harm members of my family" - Hungarian tennis player blackmailed to lose Challenger match

Match fixing is rife in tennis, especially lower down the ranks in Challenger events among the ones heavily affected with a number of cases being found out over the past years. One latest scenario has occurred with Hungarian tennis player Panna Udvardy feeling the effects from this.

While the majority of top tennis players are competing in Indian Wells, the world number 95 is playing her tennis in the Antalya Challenger, located in Turkey. She was the number two seed for the tournament and had high aspirations of going deep in the tournament, but these motivations were put to one side with her safety now feeling under threat.

On Friday, 6 March, she alerted the WTA and her family that she had received threats while competing in this event. They wanted her to lose the match deliberately or the consequences would show themselves. This would come in the form of harm to her family, not a nice situation for the 27-year-old.

On Instagram, she opened up on the news on her Instagram with a lengthy message. "Last night around midnight I received several very disturbing messages on WhatsApp from an unknown number on my personal phone," she wrote. "The person told me that if I didn’t lose my match today, they would harm members of my family. They said they knew where my family lives, what cars they drive and that they had their phone numbers. They even sent photos of my family members and a picture of a gun."

It was, obviously, a very scary and surreal experience for her as she sprang into action. "It was honestly very scary to receive something like this. I immediately contacted the WTA supervisor, sent the screenshots, and informed my parents. My parents then contacted the consulate, and when I woke up this morning I also spoke again with the WTA supervisor."

She was not the only player to have threats directed towards them. "I was told that similar threats have recently happened to other players and that they believe personal information may have leaked from the WTA database, which is currently being investigated."

Udvardy was very grateful for the support. "Thank you to everyone who reached out today with messages and support. It really meant a lot. Thank you to the consulate for reacting so quickly and for taking care both me and my family."

However, this was a disturbing case which she is not the only person to experience, and she wanted events to be resolved. "But I want to say something clearly: this is not normal. Even as athletes or public figures, it’s not acceptable to receive threats against our families, especially not on our private phone numbers and alongside disturbing images. We should not normalise abuse like this in sport."

She encouraged the WTA to continue to work on cases like this. "I hope the WTA continues investigating this situation seriously and takes stronger steps to protect players personal data and safety and to inform players immediately if there is a breach in their system. No player should have to deal with something like this."

Authorities in Hungary offered protection was also available in Hungary at her parents' and grandmother's homes. She would go on to lose in the quarterfinal stage 7-6(3), 7-5 to Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina.