Britain’s 15th Jodie Burrage reveals terrifying death threats on social media after losing to India’s Vaishnavi Adkar in 16-month WTA comeback

FILE – Jodie Burrage of Britain serves a forehand return against Coco Gauff of the United States during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File) British tennis player Jodie Burrage has revealed she received death threats and abusive messages 16 months after losing her WTA Tour singles. The 27-year-old shared screenshots of news reports following 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 15th in Britain, lost in the first round of the Chennai Open 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to India’s Vaishnavi Adkar. Despite winning the opening set, the British player was unable to stop Adkar from recovering to win the match in three sets.

Chennai: Vaishnavi Adkar of India plays against Jodie Burrage of Great Britain, 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 WTA Tour main draw match since July 2025, excluding qualifiers. Her previous appearance at this level ended in a first-round defeat to Catherine McNally at Wimbledon.After the match in Chennai, Burrage posted an Instagram story showing the scroll of direct messages she received. She captioned the video: “Welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left. When is something going to happen?”She tagged both the WTA and Instagram, drawing attention to the abuse and asking what action would be taken against those posting it.One report accused Burrage of “giving up” and “disgracing the sport” before attacking women’s tennis and telling her to kill herself. It read: “Your (sic) smh (shake your head). You are truly a disgrace to this sport. You screamed today and you are the very reason women’s sports are a joke.”“I hope you go home and kill yourself bc (because) honestly, that’s the best. You’ll never be compared to a man bc.”Another pending direct message read: “Die n riot (sic) on the streets”, while a separate message aimed at players read: “F***** (sic) ****”.The messages included personal abuse and encouragement of self-harm, rather than criticism of Burrage’s performance. Her post also received support from other players, including Germany’s Eva Lys, who shared the issue on Instagram and tagged the WTA, asking: “When is something going to be done?”

Katie Boulter also received death threats after the French Open match

Burrage’s experience follows the similar case of British colleague 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 won the match, but the result did not stop users from sending threats to her social media accounts.

Tennis – US Open – Flushing Meadows, New York, United States – September 2, 2026 Britain’s Katie Boulter looks on during a break in her second round match against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Amber Searls

Screenshots shown by the BBC included one message: “I hope you get cancer”. Another threatened to damage her grandmother’s grave if she wasn’t dead by the next day, while talking about “candles and a coffin for all your family”.The third message read: “Go to hell, I lost the money my mother sent me.The link to lost money reflected a pattern identified in research into online abuse targeting tennis players. A report by Signify Group, which monitors threats and abuse through its AI-led threat detection service, found two years ago that angry gamers were responsible for 48 percent of posts classified as abusive.

More than 12,000 abusive messages targeted female tennis players in 2025

The scale of the problem goes beyond individual cases. According to a report published earlier in 2026, female tennis players received more than 12,000 offensive 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 number recorded in 2024. The report also found that angry gamblers accounted for 42 percent of verified abuse in 2025 and 59 percent 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 Burrage and Boulter received also included threats and misogynistic attacks unrelated to any evaluation of their performance.Players have previously called on social media companies to introduce identity verification measures in an effort to make users more accountable for the messages they send. The WTA Players Board also condemned the abuse, calling it “unacceptable” and warning that its impact on those targeted could be “significant”.