WTA offers support to Jodie Burrage after death threats following Chennai Open defeat
Jodie Burrage has been offered additional support by the WTA after receiving death threats and online abuse following her first-round loss to Vaishnavi Adkar at the Chennai Open in India on Tuesday. Burrage posted copies of abusive messages she had received on her Instagram account after the match.
Burrage, 27, lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in what the report described as a gruelling contest; it was her first WTA Tour match since last summer. She published a selection of the messages alongside the caption: "Nice welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left." The posts prompted the WTA to confirm it was offering extra support.
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." The organisation added that it had staff on the ground in Chennai providing support to Burrage, working with its wider player welfare and Threat Matrix teams.
The WTA said it had put in place additional tools for the player, including a private channel for reporting abusive direct messages and moderation that hides abusive comments on public channels before she sees them. Those measures are intended to reduce the volume of abuse that reaches players' public feeds and inboxes.
Threat Matrix, the AI-led service the WTA helped launch three years ago in partnership with Wimbledon, World Tennis and the United States Tennis Association, was cited as central to handling the incident. The programme was created to identify and tackle online abuse directed at players and officials.
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.
Burrage is one of a number of players who have previously spoken out about the level of abuse they receive and what they describe as a failure of governing bodies and social media companies to tackle it effectively; she also spoke publicly about abuse after her first-round exit from Wimbledon in 2025.
Threat Matrix is reporting the abuse Burrage received to the platforms and investigations are under way to identify those responsible. Where the abuse is linked to betting, those accounts will be added to the Bad Actor programme so betting operators can act against them.
