Professional tennis players are facing persistent online abuse and threats, with angry gamblers accounting for 42 per cent of all verified abuse detected during the 2025 season, according to a joint report by the Women’s Tennis Association and World Tennis.
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The issue has again attracted attention after British player Jodie Burrage revealed that she received death threats and abusive social media messages following her defeat to Indian wildcard Vaishnavi Adkar at the Chennai Open.
Burrage, 27, was playing her first WTA Tour singles main-draw match in 16 months when Adkar came from a set down to defeat her 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round on November 3.
Following the match, Burrage shared some of the abusive direct messages she received on Instagram, writing: “Nice welcome back to the tour. I remember why I left.”
Many of the messages appeared to have come from gamblers angered by the outcome of the match.
Speaking about the abuse, Burrage said professional players had become accustomed to receiving hostile messages regardless of whether they won or lost.
“You’ve got to have thick skin. There was some brutal stuff that was said, but I don’t take it to heart,” she said.
She added that while she generally tried to ignore the messages, they could become more difficult to deal with when players were already facing professional or personal challenges.
Burrage said such abuse was not limited to defeats, explaining that players could receive hostile messages after virtually every match because of the range of betting markets associated with tennis.
Her experience reflects findings contained in the WTA and World Tennis report on online abuse during the 2025 season.
According to data gathered through Signify Group’s Threat Matrix service, angry gamblers were responsible for 42 per cent of all verified abuse detected during the year, up from 40 per cent in 2024.
The report further found that gambling-related abuse accounted for 59 per cent of all serious abuse directed at players.
More than 1.2 million online posts and comments were analysed under the programme, with more than 12,000 abusive posts detected and 3,726 classified as serious.
The monitoring programme also found that a relatively small group of repeat offenders was responsible for a disproportionate share of abuse.
Just nine per cent of abusive accounts were responsible for 87 per cent of content classified as “high concern”, while prolific offenders accounted for 49 per cent of all detected abuse.
The organisations said 68 abusive accounts were fully or partially identified during investigations, while 35 accounts linked to 12 individuals were referred to law enforcement authorities.
The report also found that 89 per cent of accounts responsible for serious abuse in 2024 did not reappear in 2025, while 66 per cent of serious abusive posts and comments identified by the programme were removed.
The findings have intensified scrutiny of the relationship between professional tennis and gambling, particularly as betting companies maintain commercial relationships with sporting competitions.
World Tennis and the WTA have called for greater cooperation from the gambling industry to identify and sanction people who use betting-related frustration as a basis for threatening or abusing players.
Fanatics Sportsbook has become the first betting operator to adopt investigative tools, including Threat Matrix, under the Bad Actor Programme, allowing betting companies to take action against customers identified as engaging in abusive behaviour.
The WTA has also offered Burrage additional support following the latest threats.
The governing body said staff in Chennai were working with Burrage alongside its player welfare and Threat Matrix teams, while investigations were underway to identify those responsible for the messages.
The WTA said abusive direct messages could be submitted through a private reporting channel, while moderation tools were available to prevent some abusive public comments from reaching players.
Where abuse is linked to betting, individuals identified through the investigation can also be referred to the Bad Actor Programme for possible action by participating gambling operators.
Burrage has meanwhile called for social media companies to do more to hold users accountable, including measures that make it more difficult for individuals to hide behind anonymous accounts while issuing threats.
The British player, who reached a career-high singles ranking of 85 in September 2023, is currently rebuilding her career after injuries and illness disrupted her time on the tour.
She entered the Chennai tournament ranked 474th in the world after having fallen as low as 888 earlier in the year.
Despite the latest abuse, Burrage said she remained focused on rebuilding her ranking and preparing for the 2027 season.
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