Jodie Burrage has become a fan favourite in British tennis. The 25-year-old has six ITF titles to her name and has reached a career-high ranking of No. 84.
But Burrage’s first taste of professional tennis came when she was just 12 years old after being given the opportunity to be a ball girl at the ATP Finals in London.
While it was an exciting experience, the job also came with some stressful moments as Burrage told Express Sport that she got into trouble with none other than Rafael Nadal.
The world No. 179 only made her debut on the WTA Tour four years ago but she got to experience the ATP circuit as a child, getting through a lengthy selection process to become a ball kid at the season-ending championships back in 2011.
The ATP Finals is the men’s tour’s premier event, where the top eight players of the season battle it out for the trophy. It meant that Burrage was put to the test, working high-profile matches involving Nadal and Roger Federer.
“It was such an incredible week actually,” the recent Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge champion exclusively told Express Sport. “We were in the team on court for the final when it finished so when they did the trophy presentation, we were on court as well, it was just a mad experience.”
There was a star-studded line-up in 2011. The Big Three were all in action while Andy Murray played one match before pulling out and getting replaced by Janko Tipsarevic.
David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Mardy Fish rounded out the draw. Burrage got a great end of the deal, working the championship match won by Roger Federer.
“I ball girled for everyone – Roger, Rafa. Those are the two standouts for me then,” she added. “I’m trying to think of the other ones that were playing. I can’t remember exactly doing it for Novak, I think it was the year that Fed won.”
While her memory of the Swiss star is a great one, the 2023 Nottingham Open finalist admitted Nadal wasn’t best pleased with her work.
The former world No. 84 continued: “I’ve got pictures with Rafa as well because there was actually a little mishap with his water bottles and he wasn’t happy with the water that I got him.
“It wasn’t the right one out the fridge or something so there’s these pictures of me holding about six water bottles trying to give it to him and him not looking very happy.”
Burrage also would’ve been able to take on a ball girl role at Wimbledon though her own competition schedule got in the way. But she clearly impressed during the brutal selection process.
“We literally went through three or four different camps and they obviously cut people every time,” she said. “And I remember I did it with one of my friends who played at the time, she doesn’t play anymore, but she was a good junior as well.
“And we went through three, four different processes to get picked and then we went through a week intensive camp. There was a lot to do. Obviously it helped that I was playing tennis anyway so got all of that.”
Years later, Burrage’s knowledge came in handy when a ball kid became unwell during her match at Wimbledon in 2022. The six-time ITF champion rushed over, grabbing a bag of Percy Pig sweets from the crowd to help him get his sugar levels up.
She stayed with him while he received treatment and the moment quickly went viral on social media. Reflecting on the incident, the 25-year-old added: “It was long days as well so that thing happened with the ball kid at Wimbledon and I totally could understand why.
“Because, one, when you’re a kid doing that on a stage there’s a lot of pressure, your heart rate is up and you’re excited, you’re nervous and you burn through quite a lot of energy. So you do need to be eating the right things.”
Burrage – who recently returned from a lengthy injury layoff – is a Del Monte ambassador and she believes the Wimbledon ball kid incident serves as a reminder to prioritise nutrition.
“You do need to be supplying yourself with the right foods and if you can be healthy that’s the best way,” she explained. “There was a lot to know and as a kid maybe you don’t think about that as much. I know I definitely probably wasn’t at the stage but looking back on it now, it’s so so important.”
