SF: BURRAGE, Jodie (GBR) 3 260 (CH=233 2019) v JEANJEAN, Leolia (FRA) 433 =CH

Léolia Jeanjean is an interesting player.

At the tender age of 9 -13 or so, she was recognised by the authorities in France as probably THE most gifted tennis player for a long time.

She naturally played quite a different style from all the other girls - used far more variation, saw the court quite differently.

She was touted as the real deal, and had the biggest sponsor contracts ever with Nike, Babolat etc.

But she had a VERY controlling father who butted up against the FFT. Or, at least, that was the 'story' at the FFT. I think it was partly that the family weren't your classic tennis milieu family.......didn't sit well with the FFT.....

And then she had a horrible injury (at the age of 13) which she says was largely the FFT's fault.

She tore a ligament in her knee. It wasn't correctly diagnosed, they thought it was a ligament pull but actually the ligament in her knee had snapped. So she played again after 2 weeks. She was told she wouldn't get financial aid if she didn't play the nationals so she did. And then she injured it again. Again, not properly diagnosed.

And she ended up with a triple dislocation of the patella.

The FFT dropped her, Nike and Babolat dropped here, she needed operations, 10 months of intensive rehab..... the family had financial problems.....she went from being the Next Great Thing to being injured, washed up and a 'nobody' - all at age 13-14. It was very hard for her.....

Net net, she stopped tennis completely for two years, had no money to play tennis even if she wanted to.

So decided at 18 to go to the States and did her studies on a scholarship. Got a double degree, got a Masters. And she did it all in ultra quick time, staying for summer courses, to get extra credits, not coming back to France, so she could try tennis again, afterwards.

And now she's playing, giving pro tennis a go, with no coach because she can't afford one.

She tells a story of arriving at a 15k in Mexico, and her credit card not being accepted. So she said to them, I'll pay you at the end, promise, with my winnings cheque, and the manager taking pity, and she was 'right, Léo, now you've really got to play for your keep'. She didn't win but between the singles and doubles she managed to crank up just enough money to cover the costs.

She's given herself two years to make Grand Slams (I don't know whether she means qualis, or main draw) and said, if not, she's definitely stopping.

I truly hope the FFT give her a break with a wildcard or two.

So, all best wishes to Jodie. But I won't be too upset in Léolia wins

Wow, that's quite a story CD. Very interesting and informative inside knowledge.

flamingowings wrote:

---

V interesting CD, thanks for that (now I would like her to win...)

---

 Nah, as interesting as her story is a place in US Open qualifying is on the line for Jodie today.

SF: BURRAGE, Jodie (GBR) 3 260 def JEANJEAN, Leolia (FRA) 433 7-5 6-2

F: BURRAGE, Jodie (GBR) 3 260 (CH=233 2019) v In-Albon, Ylena (SUI) 6 315 (CH=175 2019)

Another good win, nice to see Jodie stringing them together.

Jodie's final has started. 3-0