Two days after winning her first match at a grand slam tournament, Jodie Burrage emerged on to Centre Court with the broadest of smiles – and, understandably, a few deep breaths.
As Elena Rybakina was reminded the previous afternoon, the sport’s most hallowed arena can shred the nerves of any player. Burrage, a British wildcard taking centre stage at Wimbledon for the first time in her career, performed her due diligence, seeking advice from Andy Murray as she prepared to face Daria Kasatkina, the Russian world No 11. Despite her trepidation, however, Burrage was determined not merely to endure the experience, but to savour it.
That was the least she deserved. At the age of 24, Burrage has overcome more injuries than most players suffer in a lifetime. She has had three ankle operations, suffered fractures of her knee, arm, rib and wrist, and at one point feared she may never play again. Small wonder, then, that she wept tears of joy after defeating Caty McNally, the American world No 67, in the previous round. If anyone deserved their moment in the sun – not that there was much of that around after another rain-lashed morning in Wimbledon – it was Burrage.
“There’s different ways you can go about it,” said Burrage. “I wanted to take it all in. I like using the crowd to my advantage and stuff, as well. I just wanted to have a look about.
“It’s obviously a massive court. Never played on anything like that. So for me, instead of thinking it’s not a big deal, I wanted to embrace it. I feel like I did.
“I enjoyed the experience. That’s why the smile was on my face. It’s one of my dreams to walk out on to Centre Court. I’ve done that. If I can’t enjoy it, what else can I [enjoy]?”
When it came to the business of hitting tennis balls, however, enjoyment proved hard to come by for Burrage. Overwrought by the occasion early on, and outplayed by Kasatkina virtually throughout, she was soundly beaten, 6-0, 6-2 in exactly one hour.
A clean, powerful ball-striker who likes to dictate from the baseline, Burrage showcased her quality during her run to a maiden tour-level final last month in Nottingham, where she defeated a trio of top-100 players in Magda Linette, Magdalena Frech and Alizé Cornet. Kasatkina, though, is a different kind of opponent, a master of court craft and geometry whose forehand alone is a study in subtle changes of pace, spin and trajectory.
As Burrage struggled to quell her anxiety, mistiming her groundstrokes and double-faulting five times over the course of a wretched opening set, her woes were compounded by the Russian’s disruptive shot-making and metronomic consistency. To her credit, Burrage never allowed her head to drop during that early phase, greeting each minor success with a quiet clench of the fist even as the games flew by with alarming speed.
The world No 108 was rewarded for her positivity early in the second set, where a drop volley brought up a first game point of the match on her own serve. Up in the Royal Box, David Beckham looked on expectantly. If Burrage was to avoid the nightmare scenario of a Centre Court whitewash, this was the moment. Seconds later, Kastakina screwed a backhand wide and Burrage, to her palpable relief, was finally on the scoreboard.
With that hurdle overcome, the Briton went on to play her best return game of the contest, breaking to love with a sweeping forehand winner. Twice in the next game she came within a point of a 3-1 lead, but Kasatkina patiently bided her time, extending the rallies until her opponent strayed into error. To Burrage’s evident frustration, her momentum was then arrested further by a rain delay. There would be no way back.
“My next experience I feel like I’ll be more prepared,” said Burrage. “I’ll speak to my team about those nerves and how to deal with them a little bit better.
“My opponent made me play so many balls. She missed like two or three in the first set. I missed a fair few. She’s probably my worst nightmare to play, someone who just makes balls. It wasn’t an easy matchup for me.
“She plays such long rallies… when I’m having to hit 10, 11, 12 shots, it is not easy. It’s not where I want to be.”
Kasatkina, for her part, was simply happy to be back at Wimbledon following last year’s ban on players from her homeland. One of few Russian players to publicly denounce the war in Ukraine, she was warmly received by the Centre Court crowd and no doubt further endeared herself to the British public with her empathy for Burrage’s plight.
“I think it was more difficult for her today to handle this pressure,” said Kasatkina, a finalist last week in Eastbourne. “I completely understand, playing at home, playing on the central court at Wimbledon, especially, it’s a lot of pressure.
“You could see the beginning was very difficult for her to handle. I also was very nervous, to be honest, because the atmosphere in the central court, it’s electric. You can’t prepare for that, and this is how I felt entering the court. It’s very difficult.”