Jodie Burrage was in a physio room in Chennai, her blood pressure having “tanked” late in a 3-6 6-3 7-5 defeat by Vaishnavi Adkar, when the messages started to appear. She was on her phone to tell worried people at home she was OK. Between those replies came the abuse.
The 27-year-old Briton has now told BBC Sport that even the worst of it no longer frightens her, and that this is the problem. “Because we are so used to it – which is really quite sad – I don’t fear for my safety,” she said. “You’ve got to have thick skin. There was some brutal stuff that was said, but I don’t take it to heart.”
Tuesday’s first-round match was her first WTA Tour singles match in 16 months. Visibly shaking in the heat, she had her blood pressure and oxygen levels checked and ice rubbed on her arms and legs before losing the final game to love against Adkar, a 21-year-old Indian wildcard. Her Instagram post afterwards read: “Nice welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left.”
‘It happens every match – whether it’s win or lose’
Burrage’s most striking point is that defeat is not the trigger. She said she won three matches and lost one on the World Tennis Tour in Wrexham last month, and received abuse after every one of them.
“I think that’s where tennis players get it pretty hard – because in tennis you can bet on so many things,” she said. She told Sky Sports the senders often state their motive outright: they want their money back.
The numbers support her. Female players received more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages in 2025, with angry gamblers accounting for 42% of verified abuse and 59% of serious abuse. Fellow Briton Katie Boulter told the BBC last year of abuse and death threats arriving on a near-daily basis.
Tennis is also commercially tied to the activity fuelling much of this. The Davis Cup has an official sports betting partner, and in August the self-described prediction-market platform Kalshi signed a multi-year deal with the US Open. That tension sits behind every statement the sport makes on the subject.
What is being done, and what Burrage wants
The WTA’s main response is Threat Matrix, the AI-led monitoring service established in 2023 and delivered by Signify Group alongside World Tennis. It can report content to platforms, escalate cases to law enforcement and pass names to betting operators, which can then ban offenders.
The WTA said its staff were on the ground in Chennai supporting Burrage and that investigations were under way to identify those responsible. It has offered her a private channel for reporting abusive direct messages, and moderation that hides abusive comments on her public channels before she sees them.
A report released in July said 66% of the serious abusive content identified was removed, and that 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were escalated to law enforcement. Set against more than 12,000 abusive posts in a season, that is a small number of people facing potential consequences.
Burrage does not blame her tour, saying she believes the WTA is doing all it can. Her target is the platforms. “I think an ID should be put on every Instagram account, and then that way it makes more people more accountable for their actions on that platform,” she said. “I think it would limit what people would say.”
She acknowledged to Sky Sports that the idea might be naive, but her concern is urgent. “It’s only getting worse,” she told BBC Sport.
Others share that frustration. German player Eva Lys tagged the WTA in response to Burrage’s post, asking: “When will something be done?”
A long road back, with 2027 the target
The abuse landed at a fragile point in her career. Injury kept Burrage out of singles for nine months, and sickness then disrupted her return during the grass-court season. She has climbed to 474 in the world from a low of 888 in July, though she remains well short of the career-high No 85 she reached in 2023.
“Sometimes it hurts more than others,” she said. “If you’ve already got other stuff going on, or you’re not in a great place, and that is put on top of everything else – this tour is tricky enough as it is.”
She stayed on in Chennai for the doubles, winning her opening match alongside Robin Montgomery on Wednesday. She now plans a block of pre-season training before opening her 2027 campaign in Australia.
Whether that season changes what arrives on her phone after matches depends largely on companies outside tennis, and on how far the sport is willing to press them.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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