Burrage Shares Death Threats After Chennai Open Loss

Jodie Burrage shared abusive direct messages and death threats on social media after losing to Vaishnavi Adkar in the first round of the Chennai Open, prompting fellow player Eva Lys to call on the WTA to act. The messages appeared in a video Burrage posted after the match; their senders and the credibility of any threats have not been established in the reporting. Burrage, 27, lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 after leading 5-3 in the deciding set. Adkar, an Indian player, won four consecutive games to complete the comeback. The defeat came in Burrage’s first WTA main-draw singles appearance in 16 months, excluding qualifying matches. In the caption accompanying the video, Burrage wrote, “Nice welcome back to tour. I remember why I left.” Lys tagged the WTA in her response to the post and asked when action would be taken. The messages displayed included verbal abuse and death threats, according to descriptions of the video. The incident has renewed attention on online abuse directed at women’s tennis players. A report by Signify Group said more than 12,000 abusive social-media posts and messages targeted women players in 2025. The report attributed 42% of verified abuse and 59% of serious...