Security has been stepped up at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament after top-ranked player Roger Federer received online death threats from some troll with the handle ‘Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07′ on Chinese blogging site baidu.com.  ”We are fully aware of the comments that have been made and we take all such issues seriously,” a tournament official told AFP. 

Although my Mandarin’s a little rusty (ie non-existent), I’m told the man’s missive translates to “On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination,” as per The Telegraph.  Apparently, this guy didn’t get the memo that Andy Murray is the new man to beat, erm, exterminate.  The Telegraph also notes that “The user also posted a doctored image showing a decapitated Federer on his knees on a tennis court, with an axe-wielding executioner posing next to him.”

In any case, I don’t know why you’d wanna destroy tennis to begin with.  It’s hardly the most popular sport in the world, but it’s a great test of individual fitness that can make for some good TV moments when flipping the channels while a real sport’s on commercial break; hell, it’s possibly the most legit one-on-one sporting event.  Now, if the guy said he wanted to exterminate the UFC, I’d be all for it.  Good luck taking out Jon Jones though, buddy…