British tennis player Jodie Burrage has revealed that she received death threats and abusive messages after losing her first WTA Tour singles match in 16 months. The 27-year-old shared screenshots of the messages after her first-round defeat at the Chennai Open, questioning why social media platforms had not done more to protect players.
Jodie Burrage shares death threats after Chennai Open defeat
Burrage, ranked 474th in the world and Britain’s No 15, lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to India’s Vaishnavi Adkar in the first round of the Chennai Open. Despite taking the opening set, the British player was unable to prevent Adkar from recovering to win the match in three sets.
Chennai: India’s Vaishnavi Adkar plays against Great Britain’s Jodie Burrage, unseen, during their Round of 32 match at the WTA 250 Chennai Open tennis tournament, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. (PTI Photo/R Senthilkumar)(PTI11_03_2026_000331A)
It was Burrage’s first match in the main draw of a WTA Tour event since July 2025, excluding qualifying tournaments. Her previous appearance at that level had ended in a first-round defeat by Catherine McNally at Wimbledon.After the Chennai match, Burrage posted an Instagram story showing a scroll of direct messages she had received. Alongside the video, she wrote: “Nice welcome back to tour. I remember why I left. When will something be done?”She tagged both the WTA and Instagram, directing attention to the abuse and asking what action would be taken against those sending it.One message accused Burrage of being a “quitter” and a “disgrace to the sport”, before attacking women’s tennis and telling her to kill herself. It read: “Your [sic] a quitter smh [shake my head]. You truly are a disgrace to the sport. You got your ass whooped today and you are the exact reason women’s sports are a joke.“Hope you go home and kill yourself bc [because] honestly that’s what’s best. You will never compare to a man b***h.”Another pending direct message read: “Die n riot [sic] on the streets”, while a separate message directed at the player said: “F***** [sic] ****”.The messages included personal abuse and encouragement of self-harm, rather than criticism of Burrage’s performance. Her post also drew support from fellow players, including Germany’s Eva Lys, who shared the issue on Instagram and tagged the WTA, asking: “When will something be done?”
Katie Boulter also received death threats after French Open match
Burrage’s experience follows a similar case involving fellow British player Katie Boulter, who spoke to BBC Sport in 2025 about receiving death threats and other abusive messages online.Boulter became the target of abuse after losing the first set of her opening-round match against Carole Monnet at the French Open. She went on to win the match, but the result did not prevent users from sending threats to her social media accounts.
Tennis – U.S. Open – Flushing Meadows, New York, United States – September 2, 2026 Britain’s Katie Boulter looks on during a break during her second round match against Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Amber Searls
Screenshots shown to the BBC included one message saying: “Hope you get cancer”. Another threatened to damage her grandmother’s grave if she was not dead by the following day, while also referring to “candles and a coffin for your entire family”.A third message read: “Go to hell, I lost money my mother sent me.”The reference to lost money reflected a pattern identified in research into online abuse directed at tennis players. A report by the Signify Group, which monitors threats and abuse through its AI-led threat detection service, found two years ago that angry gamblers were responsible for 48 per cent of posts classified as abusive.
More than 12,000 abusive messages targeted female tennis players in 2025
The scale of the problem extends beyond individual cases. According to a report published earlier in 2026, female tennis players received more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media during 2025.According to the BBC, data from the Signify Group’s threat matrix service showed that the number of abusive posts and messages was similar to the figure recorded in 2024. The report also found that angry gamblers accounted for 42 per cent of verified abuse in 2025 and 59 per cent of cases classified as serious abuse.The findings point to gambling-related anger as a significant source of online hostility towards players, although the abuse received by Burrage and Boulter also included threats and misogynistic attacks unrelated to any assessment of their performances.Players have previously called for social media companies to introduce identity verification measures in an effort to make users more accountable for the messages they send. The WTA’s player board has also condemned the abuse, describing it as “unacceptable” and warning that its impact on those targeted can be “significant”.
