The 2025 Australian Open is proving to be a game-changer for 25-year-old British star, Jodie Burrage. After making her tournament debut last year, Burrage won her first match at the tournament, defeating French star, Leolia Jeanjean. It was her first victory in a major tournament after more than a year. Last year, Burrage suffered from injuries but made a strong comeback Down Under. As she sets her sights on big things ahead, she is training under the watchful eyes of a renowned coach.
Burrage is currently coached by fellow Brit, Craig Veal. The latter has coached several WTA players and even has the experience of coaching at various levels of the sport. Veal began his coaching stint in 2008, helping passionate players in their long-term development. Interestingly, Veal has coached at more than 150 international events and finished runner-up as the UK Performance Coach of the Year back in 2020.
Further, Veal has the experience of coaching top players like Desirae Krawczyk and Alexa Guarachi, apart from Burrage. One of Veal’s career highlights was helping the former win three Grand Slam titles in 2021, namely the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. An interesting aspect of Burrage’s partnership with Veal is that she shares her coach with her compatriot Lily Miyazaki. As a result, she is able to manage her finances well, with tennis being an expensive sport.
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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jodie Burrage (@jodie_burrage)
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Owing to her injury absence from a majority of the tournaments last year, Burrage has dropped out of the top 150 of the WTA rankings and is currently placed in the 173rd spot. However, she is looking to improve her ranking and the Australian Open is the perfect platform for her in this regard. Nonetheless, Burrage faces a tough task against Coco Gauff, who she’ll face in the second round tomorrow. Ahead of their match, Burrage made a candid confession about her chances against Gauff.
Jodie Burrage on Coco Gauff: ‘Best player in the world right now’
After a confidence-boosting win over Jeanjean in the first round, Burrage is wary of the task at hand which is to defeat Gauff tomorrow. Ahead of their clash, she was all praise of her opponent and downplayed her chances going into the encounter. During an interview, Burrage gave insights into her tactics against Gauff.
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She said, “I’ve never even hit on Rod Laver before. I’ve played Coco before and she’s arguably the best player in the world right now so it’s going to be a very, very tricky match. I’m an underdog and I’m taking that attitude into the match and I’m taking the attitude of I’m going to take it to her. I’m going to see what I can do. I’m going to try and make her as uncomfortable as I can. I’m just very excited. Everyone loves an underdog.”
Burrage’s and Gauff’s only encounter before was at the Rothesay International in 2023, which the American star won comfortably in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. It’ll be interesting to see if the British star can change her fortunes against a high-flying Gauff. What do you think?