Panna Udvardy and the private-phone threats that followed her to Turkey

panna udvardy says she was alone in a hotel room in Antalya, Turkey, when her personal phone lit up with messages demanding she lose her next match. The threats did not stay on a screen. They named family members, referenced where they live, and arrived with photos of relatives and a gun. Days later, the WTA Tour told players there had been no official breach of private data, while an investigation continued.

Panna Udvardy, a midnight message, and a match in Antalya

Udvardy, 27 and ranked world No. 95, said the message came from a phone number carrying a United Kingdom country code. It instructed her to lose ahead of her meeting with Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina at a tournament described as one rung below the main tour in Antalya. The message threatened to kidnap her mother and claimed to have details of where her parents and grandmother live.

Alongside the written threats were photos of Udvardy’s family and an image of a hand gun. The message included a line warning that “we have two groups near Hungary ready for war if necessary. ” In a voice message, Udvardy described forwarding what she received to her parents in the middle of the night. She said she also sent the messages to the tournament supervisor, the WTA player relations team, and wrote an email to the WTA social media team, adding that she could not sleep for two hours.

In a separate account, she later posted screenshots of the messages on Instagram and wrote that she received several “very disturbing” WhatsApp messages from an unknown number on her personal phone, warning that if she did not lose her match that day, members of her family would be harmed. She lost the match against Kalinina in two sets.

WTA Tour response, extra police, and the question of private data

Udvardy’s frustration focused on what she experienced after she sought help. She said that when she went to the WTA tournament supervisor’s office, she was told she was not the first player to receive messages like these. She also said the supervisor told her there was an investigation into a possible leak of players’ personal data, a possibility the supervisor suggested could explain why threatening messages were reaching players’ personal phones.

“The WTA tried to downplay the situation a little bit. I didn’t see any extra security being placed or any kind of real concern, ” Udvardy said in the voice message. She also described being told, in effect, that because it had happened to others, she should not worry. Udvardy pushed back on that logic, pointing to her phone number and personal data, and asking what else the sender might have.

Another detail only sharpened her reaction. Udvardy said the tour’s safeguarding team told her the gun photo was an old one, implying the sender did not actually possess a firearm. Udvardy said she did not see how that was better.

Yet another account of events described a different security posture around the match itself. Udvardy said she contacted the Women’s Tennis Association and that three additional police officers were sent to her match, something she said she was “extremely grateful for. ” She added that police also went to her parents’ and grandmother’s homes.

A person briefed on the Antalya tournament’s operations said the supervisor’s comment to Udvardy did not constitute an official statement and was made off the cuff.

Lucrezia Stefanini, copycat threats, and an FBI-linked investigation

Udvardy is not the only player to describe this kind of pressure. She is the second WTA Tour player to discuss threats of violence sent to a personal phone in the past week. Lucrezia Stefanini also detailed receiving a WhatsApp message with a photo of a gun and threats tied to match results.

Stefanini said she was threatened over winning a match, and that the message named her parents, the place where she was born, and included a photo of a gun. Like Udvardy, Stefanini said she told the WTA, and she described receiving boosted security. In a video, Stefanini said she was explaining what happened because she did not think it was right to be put under that kind of pressure and unease before a match.

After Udvardy reported the threats against her, the WTA sent an email to players stating there had not been an official WTA data breach. The email said the FBI is contributing to an investigation into where the threatening messages came from. It also instructed players to immediately contact the tour’s safeguarding team if they receive threatening messages, whether on personal phones or on social media.

The FBI has been involved in investigations of threatening messages before. A 2024 season-wide report into abuse of players, commissioned by the WTA Tour and World Tennis, said 15 cases were reported to law enforcement, with three reported to the FBI.

For panna udvardy, the sequence remains personal: an unknown number, a demand tied to a match in Antalya, and images that reached beyond tennis and into her family’s private life. The WTA’s message to players sets a next step in plain terms—contact the safeguarding team immediately—while investigators, with FBI involvement, continue working to trace how the threats reached players’ personal phones.