Chaperone to the stars (From Malvern Gazette)

Chaperone to the stars

11:08am Saturday 12th July 2008 in Sport By Mark Stanford

A MALVERN woman has spent the last fortnight rubbing shoulders with the world's tennis elite after leading out the sport's top superstars at Wimbledon.

Jane Poynder, a member of Manor Park Tennis Club, works at SW19 as a master of ceremonies, a role which has seen her leading the likes of Roger Federer and Venus Williams from their dressing rooms to both Centre Court and Court Number One.

Working alongside fellow official Dan Bloxham, Jane has been working on both courts during a hectic two weeks of action.

She was invited to do the prestigious role in 1995 after being a member of the All-England Club. Jane is also the first woman to be a master of ceremonies at Wimbledon.

Jane said: "It's a privilege to do this, leading out the players.

"I know all of the players now from doing this job for the last 13 years. It's a very long two weeks, especially when it's wet.

"We escort them onto the courts. It's a very unique position. It's also a unique thing to be invited to do this for two weeks of the year. Mostly, each court will have three or four matches on per day.

"Centre Court is amazing to walk onto, fantastic, but it will be a different court once the roof can go on next year. The more you walk onto Centre, the more it becomes a natural thing to do.

"Wimbledon is run superbly, it's a fantastic operation, all of the departments gel together.

"There's a nice hum on Centre Court before a final. On Saturday, for the women's final, the players got a good reception. It was a good championships."

Speaking about Sunday night's epic, five-set, five-hour men's final thriller between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Jane said: "It was a very long match, very dark for them both by the time they finished. It was tough for both of them."

But she was not just an official at the most famous tennis venue in the world, she has also competed on the grass. Jane, who represented England during her career, competed at both junior and senior level, and even advanced to the second round one year.

Born in Devon, Jane moved up to Malvern and was crowned as Worcestershire County Champion during her career.

She now works as head professional at Malvern's Manor Park Club and heads a team of six coaches at the Albert Road North venue.

Manor Park will hold a PRO-AM event this Sunday between 11am and 3pm with former Federation Cup player Claire Curran playing some of the club's youngsters.

Everyone is welcome to attend the event.