British tennis player Jodie Burrage tells of online abuse after Wimbledon exit
The tennis player Jodie Burrage has said she has had to stop herself looking at her phone due to online abuse after her first-round Wimbledon exit.The British No 7 urged gambling companies and social media companies to do more to tackle online trolls, who she says often attack her appearance.Speaking after her to defeat to the 23-year-old American Caty McNally, Burrage said some of the abuse may have been from gamblers who had lost money.“I think it’s very simple to have someone’s ID connected to their account and that would, I think, quickly stop what people write and make them more accountable,” the 26-year-old said.“I’m just guessing that they’re gamblers, some of them say, ‘You’ve lost me this amount of money’ or whatever, so some of them are.
I don’t know, that’s the only explanation I’ve got otherwise they are just very bad people.But yes, it’s tough and today I’m trying not to look at my phone.It’s not easy to deal with, but I do think there could be more being done.”Burrage’s comments come after Katie Boulter, the British No 2, told how she had been targeted by online abusers, including gamblers, who had sent death threats, explicit pictures and toxic comments during her matches.Tennis authorities are lobbying gambling companies to close the betting accounts of people found to have sent abusive messages to female players, with one US gaming company warning its customers it would do so, the Guardian reported last week.
A report from the Women’s Tennis Association and International Tennis Federation published in June revealed that 458 players were direct targets of abuse last year.The report, produced using an AI-led detection system developed by the Signify Group, found that 40% of the social media abuse came from frustrated gamblers, a figure that rose to 77% for direct abuse directed towards players’ personal accounts.Burrage has told how she is targeted after most games and sent pig emojis.“I’m a bigger girl than a lot of others in professional tennis and it’s a conversation I’ve had to deal with throughout my whole career,” she said in an interview with OK on Monday.Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionSpeaking on Tuesday, she added: “I think, half of the stuff I get is about body image and I think that’s a very big topic for females for some reason, compared to men.
So a lot of the abuse is about that.”
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