Should Jodie Burrage ever decide to pursue an alternative career, expect the St John Ambulance service to be first in line to recruit the 23-year-old. The British wildcard’s confectionery-based methods may be unorthodox, but there can be no faulting the quality of her care.
Burrage, ranked 141st in the world, rushed to the aid of a stricken ballboy early in the second set of her match against Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, tending to him at length as he sat in a chair at courtside.
The British No 5 was a set down and trailing 0-15 on serve when, realising something was wrong, she spoke to the boy briefly before running to her chair to get him a drink and a sachet of energy gel. Burrage then stayed with the boy for several minutes, encouraging him to drink and offering him Percy Pig sweets provided by a member of the crowd.
“He just said he was feeling really faint. He couldn’t actually really talk. It was quite distressing to see,” said Burrage, who went on to lose 6-2, 6-3.
“I just tried to get him some sugar, gave him a Gatorade and a gel. The gel is not the nicest thing, so they managed to find some Percy Pigs somewhere along the line in the crowd, which he got down and then started to feel better. Hopefully he’s feeling better now.
“To be honest, it didn’t affect me too much, I guess. I actually came out, hit a great serve, probably the best serve I hit in that match after that. If anything, it helped me. But I just hope he’s OK.
“I just reacted how I think anyone would. He was not in a good spot. I just tried to help him out as much as possible. I’ve fainted a few times. I actually had a panic attack once in juniors here, so I’ve been where he is. I kind of know a little bit how he was feeling.
“I just tried to help as much as I could. Hopefully I did.”
In an individual sport where looking after number one tends to go with the territory, it was a heart-warming display of altruism from Burrage, who said the stop-start nature of a contest earlier halted by rain had been to her advantage.
“After the rain delay, I came out and played a lot better,” said Burrage. “Obviously I spoke to my coaches, they gave me some pointers. It let me reset. So I actually think it was to my advantage, those delays. But I still couldn’t put out the level of tennis I wanted to put on the court.”
It marked a disappointing conclusion to the grass-court season for Burrage, whose straight-sets victory over world No 4 Paula Badosa at Eastbourne was arguably the high-water mark of what has been a memorable grass-court swing so far for the British contingent.
The ballboy, who was escorted off court, has reportedly made a full recovery.