Her twitter doesn't reveal anything as she hasn't posted there for 6 months. I dont' know if College was always the plan or her thinking changed but I feel College tennis is definitely the best decision. May she have a great time and enjoy deveoping there.
Well that's the strongest programme in US women's college tennis she will do well to play higher than No 4 in her first season, Florida is also highly regarded academically in the South East.
Most importantly that has really mucked up my collegiate tennis affiliations, previously it was pretty straight forward as we only had one player in a competitive team with a chance of winning it all and that was Emily at Stanford, unfortunately now Jodie is on the other side of the biggest rivalry in ladies college tennis! With Emily at Vandy another top 10 programme Collegiate tennis is becoming very relevant to the development of British ladies tennis. It will be interesting to see who is the next girl to just go pro.
Not everyone will agree with it all but it's interesting .... (and, again, I note that her mother was a national player at veteran level).
As above, wish Jodie well. A very good choice. As with all, if your tennis takes off absolutely flying, you can drop out after a year and bank your credits. But the chance for such excellent, and free, training facilities, coaching, experience, team play, etc. etc. - and that's just the tennis - what's not to love?
Do wonder if Katie Swan regrets burning her bridges in that regard......
There are a number of rules and regulations that the NCAA use to define "amateur" as I understand it a player can take 10k a year in winnings and beyond that expenses that are those of the player only ie. not their parents or their coaches. Also signing with an agent/agency may also impact status.
Evan Hoyt suffered loss of amateur status in the eyes of the NCAA as he signed with IMG for 10 weeks at one point causing major frustration.. I get the impression that the companies that facilitate college recruiting of British talent get in pretty early at the performance centres with presentations, getting the kids parents to sign up with them and have a good understanding of process and what is and is not allowed.
Steven has posted a tweet now to suggest that Jodie has changed her mind about going to Florida and is going to become a full time pro instead...
Parsa @Parsa_Nemati
'18-year-old Brit @jodieburrage has decommitted from Florida & has decided to turn pro. Current WTA singles ranking of #704/former ITF Jr #14'
Bad news. Jodie has just posted on Instagram that her grass season is over and she's having her 3rd ankle operation tomorrow. What a grim match that Lapko defeat turned out to be.
I'm gutted for her. With the Head of women's tennis highlighting her as one to watch during the grass season I'm sure she was next in line for a WC for Wimbledon after the Fed Cup group.
It's a real shame. She really looked like she could have pushed forward during the grass season, or at least had some excellent experience and earned some handy cash. Gutted for her.
Yes, Jodie is at a CH 235 this week, and could well push up another couple of places again next week, so she was exceedingly well placed to push on into the top 200 this grass season and place herself firmly on the radar of those whose focus on British tennis is really only during the grass season.
Rather like Harriet earlier this year, when she looked poised to break into the top 100, but then slipped back down beyond 150 with her time out, this will obviously break Jodie's pleasing momentum this year. However, key lesson from people like Gabi and Katie is not to push it too much but to make sure you're fully fit before returning again, otherwise the misery is prolonged even further.