Hungarian tennis player Panna Udvardy shared some incredibly disturbing news on Instagram. She revealed she received threats to her family ahead of her match at the Megasaray Hotels Open. This isn’t just a tough loss; it’s a nightmare scenario that no athlete should ever have to face, and it clearly impacted her performance on the court.
Udvardy, posted a lengthy caption alongside screenshots of “several very disturbing messages” she received. According to People, she explained that these messages came via WhatsApp around midnight from an unknown number directly to her personal phone. This is already awful, but it gets much worse.
The anonymous sender told Udvardy that if she didn’t intentionally lose her match that day, they would harm members of her family. They even went as far as to say they knew where her family lived, what cars they drove, and that they had their phone numbers. To make things even more terrifying, the sender sent photos of her family members and a picture of a gun. “It was honestly very scary to receive something like this,” Udvardy wrote.
Imagine trying to play tennis after getting messages like that
Udvardy didn’t waste any time. She said she “immediately contacted the WTA supervisor, sent the screenshots, and informed my parents.” Her parents then reached out to the consulate, and when she woke up the next morning, Udvardy spoke with the WTA supervisor again. What she was told next is pretty shocking: similar threats have apparently happened to other players recently. The WTA believes that personal information might have leaked from their database, and they’re currently investigating the situation. This is a huge concern for player safety and data privacy.
After Udvardy contacted the consulate, three police officers were sent to her match. Additional police also went to her parents’ and grandmother’s homes, which you can imagine must have been incredibly stressful for everyone involved. After her match, Udvardy filed an official police report in Turkey. Similar disturbing incidents have surfaced online before, including this chilling case about a ChatGPT message sent to a user before he killed his mom.
Despite all of this, Udvardy still had to play her match against Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, ultimately losing 7-6 (7-3) 7-5. She admitted that the messages left her completely distracted during the competition. “Leaving Antalya feeling sad and disappointed. I never imagined something like this could happen. The last few days have been stressful to say the least, making it very difficult to focus on what I came here to do which is to play tennis,” she wrote. It’s completely understandable that her focus would be elsewhere when her family’s safety was on the line.
Udvardy took the opportunity to thank everyone who reached out with messages and support, saying it “really means a lot.” She also expressed gratitude to the consulate for their quick reaction and for taking care of both her and her family. However, she made it very clear that “this is not normal.” She stressed that “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.”
She rightfully urged that “we should not normalize abuse like this in sport.” Udvardy wants the WTA to “continue investigating this situation seriously, take stronger steps to protect players personal data and safety and to inform players immediately if there is a breach in their system.” It’s a critical call to action, because as she concluded, “No player should have to deal with something like this.”
Published: Mar 12, 2026 02:45 pm