British tennis player receives death threats after defeat

British tennis player Jodie Burrage received a barrage of death threats and social-media abuse after losing in the Chennai Open – her first WTA singles match for 16 months.

Burrage lost a close match to India’s Vaishnavi Adkar in the first round and then shared posts on Instagram detailing the abuse she had been sent.

“Nice welcome back to tour. I remember why I left,” Burrage said in the accompanying message. Germany’s Eva Lys showed solidarity with the Londoner, asking the WTA: “When will something be done?”

Burrage, 27, who reached a career-high world ranking of 85 in September 2023, had looked set for victory as she led 5-3 in the deciding set on Tuesday, but lost four games in a row to lose 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The match lasted almost three hours in humid conditions and Burrage called the doctor as she struggled with the heat. She appeared to be shaking and had her blood pressure and oxygen levels checked as well as ice applied to her arms and legs.

Burrage has previously spoken against social-media trolls, and has also urged gambling companies and social-media firms to do more to tackle online trolls.

The British No 15, who is now ranked 474th in the world, last played singles on the WTA Tour when she lost in the first round at last year’s Wimbledon. After that defeat she said she had to stop looking at her phone because of online abuse.

“It’s very simple to have someone’s ID connected to their account and that would quickly stop what people write and make them more accountable,” Burrage said. “I’m guessing they’re gamblers; some of them say, ‘You’ve lost me this amount of money’, so some of them are. That’s the only explanation I’ve got otherwise they are just very bad people. I do think there could be more being done.”

A report from the Women’s Tennis Association and International Tennis Federation revealed that 458 players were direct targets of abuse in 2024. The report found that 40 per cent of the social media abuse came from frustrated gamblers, a figure that rose to 77 per cent for direct abuse directed towards players’ personal accounts.

Female tennis players were subjected to more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media last year, according to data from the Signify Group. Its report found that angry gamblers were behind 48 per cent of posts which were deemed to be abusive.

Burrage’s fellow British player Katie Boulter has also previously spoken about the death threats directed at her and her family. She also blamed gamblers for most of the abuse.

Boulter said: “It shows how vulnerable we are. You don’t know if this person is on [the premises]. You don’t know if they’re nearby or if they know where you live,” she said. “At the start of my career, it’s something I took very personally, getting comments about the way you look. It becomes more apparent every time you go on your phone.”

The WTA previously condemned the abuse as “unacceptable” and agreed the impact can be “significant”.