British tennis player Jodie Burrage has received death threats and abusive messages on social media following her defeat in the first round of the Chennai Open in India.

The 27-year-old lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to India’s Vaishnavi Adkar on Tuesday, November 3, in her first WTA Tour singles main-draw appearance in 16 months.

Adkar recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Burrage in three sets, ending the Briton’s return to the main tour with a first-round exit.

Following the match, Burrage shared a video on her Instagram story showing several abusive direct messages she had received, including death threats.

Accompanying the video, she wrote: “Nice welcome back to tour. I remember why I left.”

German tennis player Eva Lys expressed support for Burrage, tagging the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in a social media post and asking, “When will something be done?”

Burrage, who reached a career-high world ranking of 85 in September 2023, had previously spoken about online harassment following her first-round defeat at Wimbledon in July 2025.

At the time, she called on gambling companies and social media platforms to do more to tackle online abuse, saying some users appeared to target players after losing bets.

She also suggested introducing identity verification for social media accounts to make users more accountable for abusive messages.

The incident has renewed concerns about online harassment targeting female tennis players, particularly abuse linked to sports betting.

According to a report by the WTA and World Tennis, more than 12,000 abusive social media posts and messages targeting tennis players were identified during the 2025 season.

The report found that gamblers were responsible for 42 per cent of verified abuse and 59 per cent of serious abuse cases.

The WTA’s player board has previously condemned online harassment, describing it as unacceptable and warning that its impact on players could be significant.