A couple of months later my pickleball journey was brought to an abrupt halt. At the time I was running the Eastbourne ATP and WTA event, whilst being the hitting partner for our number 1 men’s wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett. A week before I was due to fly to the Australian Open with Alfie and his team, I caught glandular fever. I was severely ill for 2-3 months, barely able to get out of bed, (thank you to the Laville family who looked after me whilst I wasn’t able to look after myself!) let alone play sport of any kind. 

As I started to regain energy I knew I wouldn’t be able to step foot on a tennis court, my body wasn’t up to strenuous physical activity but the athlete in me wanted to start somewhere.  Pickleball was the perfect place. I started going to pickleball sessions again, at the beginning 20 minutes was all my body allowed me to do. I remember being so frustrated at being able to exercise again and then my body telling me no. Suzanne Rouse got me through a few very teary sessions of frustration.  Slowly but surely I was gradually able to play for longer. 

In May 2019 I entered my first tournament – the Scottish Open.  I was so lucky to have incredible partners in Faye Plummer for women’s doubles and Louis Laville for mixed doubles (not a bad start for your first tournament!) I ended up coming home with the triple crown, 3 gold medals, in women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. I learnt so much that tournament and met so many new friends. 2 things I remember vividly – receiving Scottish gin in our player gift bag and it was the best gin I’ve ever tasted! The sofa I led down on between matches whilst still being exhausted from the glandular fever recovery.