Online safety

Being online offers children and young people endless opportunities for creativity and discovery. However, it's important to stay safe and secure and we’ll show you how.

The information on this page has been crafted according to and in partnership with the eSafety Commissioner Australia, a key authority in online safeguarding.

What is online abuse?

Online abuse refers to any behaviour using digital platforms to threaten, harass, humiliate, intimidate, bully or offend someone. When children experience this, it can affect their mental, emotional and even physical wellbeing.

According to the eSafety Commissioner’s Mind the Gap (2021) report:

  • 45 per cent of children have experienced hurtful or nasty treatment online.
  • Many felt angry, sad or helpless, with some reporting having low self-esteem.

Understanding the importance of online safety is critical to identifying and responding to risks early.

Types of online abuse

Much of the poor behaviour you can see in-person at sport can also happen online. This could include teasing, name calling, putdowns, disrespect, unkindness, body shaming, cyberbullying, discrimination, hate, harassment, threats and online grooming.

There are also forms of abuse unique to being online such as:  

When images, videos or jokes are used to mock or humiliate someone, often going viral and spreading harm quickly.

Example:
A photo of a junior player missing an easy shot is turned into a meme, shared widely in group chats and online pages, with captions ridiculing their ability.

When someone creates a fake identity online to trick or manipulate others, often leading to emotional harm or breaches of trust.

Example:
A player receives friendly messages from someone claiming to be a fellow tennis fan, only to discover it was a fake account set up to gather personal details and embarrass them.

Trolling is when people deliberately try to provoke emotional reactions or arguments online.

Example:
After team selections are announced, a frustrated parent leaves angry comments on the club's Instagram, accusing the coaches of "favouritism", then messages the selectors personally to continue complaining.

Threats which escalate when others join in and gang up online, turning individual bullying into mass harassment.

Example:
After a heated on-court argument between players, a video circulates telling other players to “target” the person in future matches, with others piling on threats and mocking comments.

Constant unwanted messaging that can cause significant emotional distress and fear.

Example:
A junior player starts receiving anonymous DMs after every tournament, saying things like "Saw you at training today – you're useless," and it escalates to every match and practice session.

Sharing someone's private information (like their phone number or address) on the internet without permission.

Example:
Someone finds a junior player's personal phone number and posts it in a tennis fan group, encouraging people to "text them about their horrible forehand."

Blackmail by threatening to share intimate or sexual images or videos of a person for something in return.

Example:
Someone posing as a fan convinces a young tennis player to video chat intimately, records it, and then demands money or threatens to share the footage with their club.

Sharing real or fake intimate or sexual images and videos without the consent of the person shown.

Example:
During a tournament trip, someone secretly records footage of players changing clothes and posts it online to humiliate them.

How to report online abuse

Step 1: Collect evidence

Support the child in recording what happened. Evidence might include:

  • web page address (URL) and name of the social media platform, messaging service, website, game or app.
  • offending user profiles or account names.
  • screenshots or time-stamped images of harmful content.
  • any prior reports made to the online platform or police.

Taking screenshots, photos or recordings of the device’s screen is a quick and simple way to collect evidence. But do not save or forward explicit images of minors or any other illegal content, even as evidence. All other evidence can be submitted instead.

Step 2: Report the abuse

  • Speak to the Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO) appointed at your club. MPIOs act as the first point of contact at a club for any enquiries, concerns or complaints for harassment, abuse and other inappropriate behaviour.
  • Report directly to Tennis Australia's Integrity and Compliance Unit (TAICU) via email at [email protected] or online form.
  • Call our whistle-blower service STOPLINE at 1800 11 SAFE (1800 117 233) to report anonymously.

For additional support, you can also report to eSafety concerning these issues:

  • Cyberbullying, such as harmful posts, comments, messages and profiles:
    Always report to the online platform or service first. If the platform or service doesn’t respond within 48 hours and the content is seriously harmful, you can make a report to eSafety.
  • Illegal and restricted online content:
    eSafety can direct illegal online content such as child sexual abuse material to be removed. 

Step 3: Stop contact

You can encourage the child to:

  • use in-app tools to mute, hide or block abusive users (once evidence has been collected and reported).
  • update privacy and security settings across all their online accounts.
  • take a break from the platform by logging out or deactivating their accounts.

Step 4: Get more support

Experiencing serious online abuse can be distressing. You can share these eSafety information guides to the child about managing the impacts of:

You can also consider support and counselling services for the child.