Death threats for Briton Burrage after Chennai Open return

Britain's Jodie Burrage said she received death threats and abusive messages on social media after losing on her WTA Tour return at the Chennai Open on her first singles match proper for 16 months.

The 27-year-old, ranked 474th in the world, suffered a first-round exit as India's Vaishnavi Adkar recovered from a set down to win 3-6 6-3 7-5; Burrage reached a career-high ranking of 85th in the world in September 2023.

Burrage posted a story on her Instagram account that included a video scroll of direct messages she said she had been sent following the match, showing abusive content and death threats. "Nice welcome back to tour. I remember why I left," said the Londoner in the accompanying message.

Germany's Eva Lys responded by tagging the WTA from her Instagram handle and asking: "When will something be done?" The WTA's player board has previously condemned the abuse as "unacceptable" and said the impact can be "significant".

A report published earlier this year found female tennis players were subjected to more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media last year. Data from the Signify Group's threat matrix service, which uses artificial intelligence-led detection, showed a similar number of abusive posts in 2025 to 2024.

A separate Signify Group report two years ago found angry gamblers were behind 48% of posts which were deemed to be abusive; the group said they were responsible for 42% of verified abuse in 2025 and 59% of cases of serious abuse.

In 2025 Britain's Katie Boulter told BBC Sport she had received death threats, and fellow players called for identity verification to be introduced by social media platforms to try to address the issue.