Fans Worried For Tennis Star Eva Lys Amid Disturbing Threats

This week was supposed to be a celebration for Eva Lys, who reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. However, a few awful sports fans ruined that achievement for her.

Lys, 23, put together an impressive run at the China Open, defeating Zhang Ruien, Iva Jovic, Elena Rybakina and McCartney Kessler. Her win over Rybakina marked her first victory over an opponent ranked inside the top 10.

Despite her best efforts on Thursday, Lys was unable to defeat Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. Nonetheless, it was still an excellent tournament for the German.

That being said, Lys revealed that she received a death threat from an Instagram user after her loss to Gauff. The message that she shared on Instagram was truly horrifying.

“I wish this [expletive] and her bigger [expletive] mother die the death of swines, [expletive] match seller, you should burn in hell,” the message read. “[Expletive] player. Your pathetic mother a [expletive] who had given birth to a [expletive] like you. I wish she die in your arms really soon.”

Lys said this is the “reality” her and others on the WTA Tour face after losing a match.

Women’s tennis facing a huge problem.

Unfortunately, this has been a terrible trend in women’s tennis this season. After Katie Boulter won her first-round match at the French Open, she received awful messages on social media.

“It becomes more apparent every single time you go on your phone,” Boulter told the BBC. “I think it just kind of shows how vulnerable we are, you really don’t know if this person is on site, if they’re nearby or if they know where you live or anything like that. As far as death threats, it’s just not something you want to be reading straight after an emotional loss. A lot of the time you get it after you win as well.”

Jessica Pegula also dealt with hate messages after her upset loss to Lois Boisson in the fourth round at Roland-Garros.

“These betters are insane and delusional and I don’t allow dms and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline,” Pegula wrote on Instagram. “This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I’d love to know because it seems to be predominately tennis?? It’s so disturbing.”

We’re not sure how the WTA Tour can regulate this problem, but seeing players deal with this type of gross behavior on a weekly basis is genuinely heartbreaking.

This story was originally reported by The Spun on Oct 4, 2025, where it first appeared in the Tennis section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.