Jodie Burrage was subjected to death threats and online abuse after losing her first WTA Tour singles match in 16 months.\n<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Briton, ranked 474th in the world, exited in the first round of the Chennai Open when India\u2019s Vaishnavi Adkar recovered from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.\n<\/p>\n
As reported by BBC Sport on Tuesday, Burrage later posted an Instagram story showing a stream of direct messages that included abuse and death threats.\n<\/p>\n
She added the comment: \u201cNice welcome back to tour. I remember why I left.\u201d<\/p>\n
German player Eva Lys publicly supported her, tagging the WTA and asking: \u201cWhen will something be done?\u201d <\/p>\n
Burrage\u2019s previous WTA main-draw singles appearance, outside of qualifying, was a first-round defeat at Wimbledon in July 2025.<\/p>\n
The incident forms part of a larger problem. Female tennis players received more than 12,000 abusive social-media posts and messages last year, according to Signify Group data, with similar numbers recorded in 2025.<\/p>\n
Angry gamblers were behind 42% of verified abuse and 59% of serious abuse cases that year.\n<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s Katie Boulter has previously spoken about receiving death threats.\n<\/p>\n
Players have called for identity verification on social-media platforms, while the WTA player board has described the abuse as unacceptable and potentially significant in its impact.\n <\/p>\n