ABSTRACT
In another well-publicized story, Rebecca Marino, a 22-year-old Canadian tennis professional who rose as high as 38th in the World Tennis Association rankings, recently withdrew from the professional circuit citing depression and cyberbullying as the reasons (Beattie, 2013). Marino indicated in press releases that she had suffered from depression for years, but that following her loss at Wimbledon last year, the cyberbullying she experienced via social media had reached levels that forced her to withdraw from professional tennis. In writing about Marino’s decision, sport’s writer Damien Cox (2013) stated, “But in the social media world, one that permits cowards to attack others under the cover of anonymity, we are more and more encountering an environment in which those who have a talent or an opinion or are simply different are exposed to a vicious tsunami of abuse that once didn’t exist.”
