British tennis star Jodie Burrage has called on social media platforms to hold people accountable for sending death threats and abuse. Burrage, who was playing her first WTA Tour match since Wimbledon last summer, received death threats and online abuse following a first-round defeat at a tournament in India on Tuesday. The 27-year-old 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.
Alongside the video, Burrage wrote: "Nice welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left." It has been 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. Burrage was visibly shaking and had her blood pressure and oxygen levels checked as well as ice rubbed on her arms and legs during the match in sweltering conditions.
She was able to resume the contest but lost the final game to love. "I received quite a few messages on social media," Burrage told Sky Sports. "Abusive messages and things that you shouldn't be getting after (a match) or that anyone should ever have to deal with in that matter anyway.
"I got them after the match and it didn't make it easier, that's for sure. "With what happened in the match as well, me not feeling my best, my blood pressure actually tanked at the end of that third set. "So obviously people were concerned back home.
I was on my phone in the physio room with the doctors and replying to people, telling them I was OK, and then I was seeing these messages come up on my phone. "It's probably not the best thing to be on your phone, but in that circumstance, I kind of had to be. "I didn't actually look at most of the messages.
I screenshot some to send to someone to show them and then decided to post them [in a video] for awareness of what it's like after a tough loss." 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 per cent of verified abuse and 59 per cent of serious abuse. "It's not just after losses. If I win a match, I normally get some sort of abuse as well, with the way that tennis works.
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