Jodie Burrage offered support by WTA after death threats and online abuse

The WTA has offered additional support to Jodie Burrage after she received death threats and online abuse following a first-round defeat at a tournament in India on Tuesday.

Burrage shared a raft of abusive messages sent to her Instagram account after a gruelling 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat by India’s Vaishnavi Adkar at the Chennai Open. The 27-year-old, who was playing her first WTA Tour match since last summer, accompanied the messages with the caption: “Nice welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left.”

It is three years since the WTA – in partnership with Wimbledon, World Tennis and the United States Tennis Association – launched the AI-led Threat Matrix service, which aims to identify and tackle online abuse against players and officials.

A WTA spokesperson said in a statement: “Protecting players and the wider tennis family from online threats and abuse is a key priority for the WTA. We have WTA staff on the ground in Chennai offering Jodie support, along with our wider player welfare and Threat Matrix team.

“As much of the abuse players receive comes through direct messages, the WTA has offered Jodie additional support, including a private channel to report abusive direct messages, and moderation that hides abusive comments on public channels before she sees them.

“Threat Matrix is also reporting the abuse Jodie received to the platforms, and investigations are under way to identify those responsible. Where the abuse is linked to betting, they will be added to the Bad Actor programme so betting operators can act against their accounts.”

Burrage is one of a number of players to have previously spoken out about the level of abuse received and a failure of the governing bodies and social media companies to tackle it effectively. She spoke out on the abuse after her first-round exit from Wimbledon in 2025.

Data from Threat Matrix showed female tennis players faced more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media in 2025, with angry gamblers responsible for 42% of verified abuse and 59% of serious abuse.

A report released in July said 66% of serious abusive posts and comments identified by the programme were removed, while 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were escalated to law enforcement.