Nearly one decade back, 14-year-old Jodie Burrage provided a meeting to Telegraph Sport headlined: “My lonely reality of trying to get to Wimbledon”. She was a promising British skill, browsing boarding institution and also her course to elite tennis. In one unforgettable quote, her mommy Yvonne stated: “I don’t think it’s worth carrying on unless Jodie is going to be in the top 50 or top 100 in the world.”
When advised of her mommy’s words currently, Burrage – that will certainly go down to a minimum of globe No 127 on Monday – can see the amusing side. “Ooft, Mum,” she claims, inventing a wince. “I think she’d look back at that comment and think it was a bit harsh.”
Burrage, 24, is probably on the brink of living up to her mommy’s hopes and also assumptions though. A couple of weeks ago she attained a career-high position of 106, placing her on the cusp of ultimately getting into the top 100. She is additionally component of a team of ladies that are investing the grass-court period wrangling over the British top area, due to previous United States Open champ Emma Raducanu’s injury lack.
“I think 14-year-old me would be surprised, I had no idea what it really took to be a professional athlete,” Burrage claims of her trajectory. “In all honesty, even at 17 or 18, I decided to go to university [before changing her mind] because I didn’t believe that I could be a professional tennis player. It’s still something I’m constantly trying to get, that belief in myself. I think 14-year-old me would be happy that I stuck with it.”
One year back, the possibility of Burrage superseding Raducanu appeared doubtful. She was outside the top 250 and also hardly able to string successive victories with each other on the ITF Tour. As well as being 248 locations behind Raducanu in the positions, she had Heather Watson, Harriet Dart, Katie Boulter, Fran Jones and also Katie Swan all in advance of her as well.