Jodie Burrage reports death threats after WTA return in Chennai

Jodie Burrage received death threats and other abusive messages after losing on her return to WTA Tour singles main-draw competition at the Chennai Open, BBC Sport reported. The British player subsequently used Instagram to show messages sent to her following the match, bringing renewed attention to the online abuse directed at women in professional tennis.

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Burrage, 27, was beaten by India's Vaishnavi Adkar in the first round. Adkar recovered from losing the opening set to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Ranked 474th in the world and Britain's number 15, Burrage was playing her first tour-level singles match outside qualifying in 16 months. Her previous appearance at that level had ended with a first-round defeat by Catherine McNally at Wimbledon in July 2025.

After the Chennai defeat, Burrage posted an Instagram story containing a scrolling video of her direct messages, including the abuse. In the accompanying text, she linked the hostile response to her recollection of leaving the tour. German player Eva Lys publicly backed Burrage, tagging the WTA in her own Instagram post and asking when action would be taken, according to the BBC report.

The incident follows research documenting the scale of online harassment in the women's game. BBC Sport cited a report published earlier this year that recorded more than 12,000 abusive social-media posts and messages targeting female tennis players in 2025. The data came from Signify Group's Threat Matrix service, which uses artificial intelligence to detect threats and abuse. The total was similar to that recorded in 2024.

Gambling-related hostility accounted for a substantial share of the recorded abuse. According to the figures cited by the BBC, angry gamblers were responsible for 42% of verified abuse in 2025 and 59% of serious cases. Those findings describe the wider monitoring data; the report did not establish who was behind the messages sent to Burrage after her Chennai match.

Burrage is not the only British player to have spoken about death threats. Katie Boulter told BBC Sport in 2025 that she had received them, while fellow players called for social-media platforms to introduce identity verification. The WTA's player board has also previously condemned online abuse and acknowledged the potentially significant effect on players.