Jessica Pegula has shed light on an “unavoidable” problem tennis players are facing after crashing out of the French Open. The world No. 3 was left “disturbed” after receiving a barrage of vile comments and death threats because of her losing to wildcard Lois Boisson in the fourth round.

Pegula took to social media to explain just how prevalent the issue is in tennis, questioning whether athletes from other sports dealt with abuse of the same level and admitting it had become “normalised” for her and other players.

The third seed shared “a thread on the insane people that bet on tennis” on her Instagram story two days after suffering a surprise three-set defeat at Roland Garros, followed by screenshots of dozens of nasty messages.

Some commented on a post paying tribute to one of Pegula’s dogs who passed away, bringing up her late pup. One accused her of having “sold this match on purpose”, while others sent threats.

The American added: “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.

“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 predominantly tennis?? It’s so disturbing.

“Every person on tour deals with it. It’s so bad. Those are just really small snippers. I get told my family should get cancer and die from people here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy.

“I’ve seen stories of comments/threats/stalking making headlines in other sports… well news flash tennis I can guarantee it’s 100 times worse. These comments are nonstop for us. Win or lose - it’s whatever they bet on.”

Pegula’s father owns the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and the world No. 3 revealed the messages of abuse were so prevalent that betters would go through the National Hockey League to pile on her.

“I actually had threats come through the NHL that they were worried about and sent to me,” she continued.

“My response was ‘oh that’s it? I get those all the time’ that is so messed up that that is my response. Normalising death threats!

“Again I’m glad this stuff has never really gotten to me (can’t reason with crazy) but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t get to other players or makes it ok.

“When fans get on us as athletes to be tougher and stronger and etc etc. just realise you probably don’t have people sending you death threats every day and hoping your family dies and you give birth to a still born child.

“And don’t say ‘stay off social media’ well it’s unavoidable because our entire careers and sponsors are based off of posting on social media. These are comments I get with my DMs and comments turned off.. Thread over.”

Pegula isn’t the only one who has called out those betting on matches for sending them threats. Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova often shares the hate she receives on social media after competing.

Iga Swiatek and Caroline Garcia have also addressed the issue in the past.