British tennis star Jodie Burrage is back in the limelight after years of injury woes

She was hyped as the rising star of British tennis at the age of 17 but then followed a plethora of injuries which could have ended her career. It's taken four long years of hard work, dedication and a little help from her rugby-playing boyfriend for Jodie Burrage to start realising her dreams.

Burrage might only be 21, but she endured a difficult last few years where she wasn't even sure whether she would ever play professional tennis again.

Three ankle surgeries later, and Burrage is starting to realise her potential as she follows in Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart's footsteps by being part of the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) Pro Scholarship Programme.

Burrage recorded the biggest win of her career at the Battle of the Brits Team Tennis tournament in Roehampton by defeating British No 1 Johanna Konta in straight sets before teaming up with her idol Andy Murray in doubles the next day. Life doesn't get much better.

I don't know her that well. I know her coaches pretty well and I know that she is a hard worker from speaking to them. She has had a number of injuries over the last few years. I've been really impressed with her. First of all, she is really nice, friendly and great to be around. In the matches, she played really well against Jo yesterday, at a really good level. I think she's got a brilliant backhand, she serves well and she returned really well in the doubles today. I'm sure she has certainly not maxed out in terms of her ranking. I haven't seen her competing enough to say she is a top 50 or top 100 player but I definitely think she has got a way to go in terms of her ranking. I don't think she is at her highest level yet. With all the injuries she has had and also the way she has played the last few days, she obviously plays very well.

"In the last six months to a year, I've really tried to focus on the physical and mental aspects and being able to see my fitness coach has really helped me in the matches that I've played. Like the mental side of it as well, I've been using one of the guys at the LTA since lockdown and it's been really, really helpful. I'm seeing the work that we've done pay off in matches," said Burrage, who was speaking via Zoom, having just finished training for another day.

Jodie has made good progress in recent years and is deserving of her place on the Pro Scholarship Programme, which provides a range of support for our best developing players during the early stages of their pro careers. She is one of a number of good young players currently on the PSP and at the earlier stages of our player pathway who, along with our support, will hopefully be able to progress into the top 100 and beyond.

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It's been a whirlwind couple of months for world No 289 Burrage, who played 19 matches in 17 days during the Progress Tour Women's Championships.

"Looking back on that, I can't really believe that I got through that without a real injury, having obviously struggled with them before," she said. "I've really enjoyed those three weeks, having had the last four or five months out due to COVID."

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Burrage attributes her excellent form down to spending quality time in Cornwall with her Leicester Tigers scrum-half boyfriend Ben White during lockdown.

She tells me the story of how they met. She liked a photo of Ben on Instagram and they soon got chatting. A few weeks later, White suffered a concussion during a match so he was forced to visit a specialist in London. It was an opportune moment for their first date. "Looking back on it now, he was still concussed at the time... so, I kind of feel a bit bad about that," laughed Burrage.

The couple have been dating for over a year now, with 10 weeks of that time spent together down in Cornwall during lockdown. An experience Burrage admits was "weird".

"I've actually seen him a lot in the last four or five months," Burrage said. "It obviously helps that he's in a sporting background as well, so he knows what it's like. I think if he wasn't in that sporting background, he wouldn't understand what it's like to have your sport taken away from you and not being able to compete, so he was really supportive.

"He was also going through the same thing (injury) in that time period as well, so we kind of bounced off one another and helped each other through those months. He's a really driven, positive and supportive guy. I sometimes get down on myself so it's really good to have him there and have him be really positive for me."

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So what about spending lockdown with Ben? "It was actually really nice to have that time with him. There was no arguments which was good - I was very surprised at that. We spent the time working really hard in terms of training and it just worked really well, to be honest."

He must be the guy for you then? "We'll see, we'll see," smiled Burrage.

The British No 7 has seen White play a few times up at Welford Road and she is looking forward to seeing him in action once restrictions are eased in stadiums.

"I love watching him, although it's quite scary at the same time because in that profession, the boys are getting hit and knocked around 24/7. I really enjoy it because I'm a competitive person anyway and I like watching a lot of sport. I'm really proud of him."

White has also made an impression on the rugby-mad Burrage family, although Jodie admitted being slightly "scared" about introducing him to dad, Chris.

"He gets on with my family like a house on fire so it's absolutely fine."

Burrage is now set on improving her current ranking of 289, with the sole focus of completing a full season.

"One of my biggest goals was to have a full year injury free in professional tennis. COVID has kind of stopped that now but I think that makes a big difference to where I would be at the end of the year," said Burrage. "I definitely want to get into the top 200 by the end of 2021, that would be my goal.

"I'd love to make it into the top 100, but I honestly think it will take a few years to get there. I want to start taking a crack at the WTA tournaments, which is where I want to be."

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