Rae serves notice of golden career ahead, and makes proud dad cry
IT WAS a squalid scene which could hardly have been further removed from Wimbledon. The RK Khanna complex on the outskirts of New Delhi was not so much a tennis stadium as an entomologist's paradise, with insects large and larger swarming around the floodlights, lounging insouciantly in the stands, and littering the court itself.
But on Sunday night, as everything that creeps and crawls went wibble wobble on the walls, this unlikely setting may well have witnessed the birth of a new star in British tennis - one who may even go on to shine in the far more salubrious surroundings of SW19.
Nineteen-year-old Jocelyn Rae, 527th in the world at singles, 225th at doubles, was playing her fourth match with Colin Fleming. On the other side of the net were two Australians, Paul Hanley and Anastasia Rodionova, who had both played in mixed-doubles finals at Wimbledon. Rodionova has won close to dollars 2million dollars on the WTA Tour, Rae no more than a few thousand. Yet despite this gulf in experience, it was the Scots who won, taking the title 7-6, 6-7, 6-2.
Nottingham-based Rae, who is eligible for Scotland as her father, Robert, is from Stirling, was on particularly impressive form. With a serve as powerful as hers, with ground strokes as well placed, she will not retain her current lowly ranking for long.
What is more, being tall, and blonde, and photogenic, Rae is now certain to receive a whole lot more attention wherever she goes - starting in Glasgow, where she plays in a tournament next week. Chatting in the athletes' village yesterday morning, however, she was eager to stress the importance of persisting with normal life as a sportswoman. "Come Monday at that tournament at Scotstoun, it's back to the day job," she said. "That's probably a good thing, so I can get my focus back and work on getting my ranking up. I'll be going in on a high and hope to do well straight away. It's great to be going to Glasgow for my first tournament back. I was going to go to Australia for a bunch of tournaments but I decided to stay closer to home. It will be awesome in Glasgow."
Although born and raised in England, Rae was brought up by her father to support Scotland at football. Indeed, it was only thanks to his intervention that she ended up as part of the team at these Commonwealth Games. "This is the first time I've represented Scotland. I've never represented England, either, it's always been Great Britain. But we talked about it and he sent an e-mail to Team Scotland, to see if I was eligible to play. Fortunately, I was.
"He brought me up to know my Scottish roots - and he was really emotional when I spoke to him on the phone, He has lived in Nottingham since he was seven or eight but he's definitely Scottish. He's a big football fan and a real Scot, so he's very proud of me. There were a few tears in that phone call. He just said: 'This is the best night of my life - your granny and grandad would be proud.' He's a big softy."
Rae admitted she and Fleming went into the tournament with no expectations, and reckoned that allowed them to play with the sheer enjoyment which was on show in the final. She is aware the expectation will start to build from here on in, but is optimistic that her experience here will help her cope. "I hope this gives me confidence to do it week in, week out on the Tour. It's such a huge event to do well at. Emotions were running high - that's why I feel drained now - and I hope having come through that helps me for the rest of the year."
Living the itinerant life of the professional tennis player, Rae is unsure when she will next be home in Nottingham, but is sure she will meet at least one member of her family pretty quickly. "I don't know when I'll see my family again - maybe in Glasgow. I'm sure my dad will drive up now that I've got a gold medal to show off. I guess the medal is the best prize I've ever had."
