British tennis player Jodie Burrage said she had received death threats and abuse on social media following her defeat by India’s Vaishnavi Adkar in the first round of the tournament in Chennai. The match ended 3:6, 6:3, 7:5 in Adkar’s favor and was Burrage’s first appearance in the main draw of a WTA tournament after a 16-month absence.
The 27-year-old Briton posted a video showing some of the personal messages she had received. Alongside it, she wrote: “Welcome back to the tour. Now I remember why I left it”.
Burrage, who is currently ranked 474th in the world, led 5:3 in the deciding set, but Adkar won the next four games to claim her first victory in a WTA main draw. The success is particularly significant for the Indian player, as she overcame a set deficit against an opponent who has reached a career-high ranking of 85th in the world. Burrage’s last appearance in a WTA main draw before the tournament in Chennai came at “Wimbledon” in July 2025. She then lost to American Katie McNally in the first round. During her time away from the tour, the Briton spoke several times about serious injuries and being close to the end of her career.
Following her post, German tennis player Eva Lys also called on the WTA to take action against online abuse. “When will something be done?“, Lys wrote in a post addressed to the organization. The WTA said that its staff in Chennai were supporting Burrage, while its player protection team had provided her with an additional channel for reporting abusive personal messages. The organization said that the Threat Matrix system reports the threats received to social media platforms and that efforts are underway to identify those responsible.
According to Threat Matrix data, more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages were directed at female tennis players in 2025. Angry betting activity was linked to 42% of confirmed cases of abuse and 59% of serious cases. These figures illustrate the overall scale of online abuse but do not establish who was behind the messages received by Burrage.