WE start, as all good tennis reports should, with a tale of cockroaches infesting a bedroom in Mexico.

“I used to room with Anne (Keothavong) when we were trying to break into the world’s top 200,” said Middlesbrough-born Sarah Borwell. “We shared a house together in Mexico because there was a run of tournaments over there, but neither of us could sleep because we’d spend the whole of the night trying to stop cockroaches running over Anne’s bed.

“Then, another time, we were staying in this hosteltype place in Calcutta and you’ve honestly never seen anything like it. I’m not even sure that our room had a roof.”

Ah, the glamour of life on tour.

We start with that story, as it provides a neat juxtaposition to what comes next. Yesterday, Borwell, a product of Middlesbrough’s Tennis World, and Keothavong, who started her tennis career on the public courts of Hackney Downs, lost 6-2 6-3 to Australian duo Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs to crash out of Wimbledon’s women’s doubles tournament at the first-round stage.

Chances are, I can bet what you’re thinking. More money wasted on Britain’s weak-willed women. Five of them, including Keothavong, exited the singles competition on Monday and Tuesday, and while Elena Baltacha will continue to fly the flag when she faces Belgium’s Kirtsen Flipkens this afternoon, the search for a successor to Virginia Wade is as far from completion as ever. As plenty of national media outlets have been suggesting in the last two days, why don’t they just face reality and give it up?

“Why? Because this is what I love doing and this is what I’ve worked the last decade for,” said Borwell.

“When I was picking those cockroaches off that bed in Mexico, I was dreaming of a day like this.

“Okay not exactly a day like this – I guess in my dreams I always won – but certainly a position where I could be in the world’s top 100, qualifying for a tournament like Wimbledon by right.

“I’ve slogged my guts out over the last 12 months, just to make sure I could be here today, doing what I love at the place where I love doing it most. So when people talk about under-performing Britons or British tennis in crisis, I wish they would show some perspective. The reality is sometimes a bit different to what the scoreline suggests.”

Here, then, is the reality of yesterday’s match. Borwell is currently ranked 85 in the world doubles rankings, and Keothavong, while having broken into the world’s top 50 in singles, rarely plays doubles on tour.

Stubbs and Stosur, on the other hand, are good. Indeed, when it comes to doubles, they’re exceptional.

They started this year’s tournament as number three seeds, and boast three Wimbledon titles (two women’s doubles and a mixed doubles) between them.

Stubbs has won five Grand Slams, while Stosur has won at Wimbledon and both the French and US Opens. The biggest win of Borwell’s career to date was at an ITF Carpet Tournament in Odense.

In short, from the moment Friday’s draw was made, the British duo were always going to have their work cut out. Think Darlington against Manchester United, just with everyone expecting Darlington to win.

“It’s great to have people looking out for you,” said Borwell. “But it’s hard when they don’t really appreciate what you’re up against.

“It wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows their tennis if Rennae and Sam went on to win Wimbledon.

They’re definitely one of the best women’s pairings in the world.

“It’s a shame because, before the draw was made, I honestly felt like we had a really good chance of going deep into the competition.

Then when the draw came through, it was pretty much a case of ‘Damn’.

“That’s not being defeatist, it’s just realism. It would have been great to have got on a run and won a few matches, but in the end they were just too strong.”

So while Borwell produced some crisp volleyed winners, and Keothavong chipped in with the occasional flashing drive from the baseline, the match was headed in only one direction from the moment the Australians broke serve in the opening game.

But should that really detract from Borwell’s achievements in simply qualifying for Wimbledon outright? Should it enable her name to be lumped in with other British losers in a general rant against the state of British tennis?

I’d argue not, but then again I was stood five yards away from the 29-year-old yesterday as she attempted to fend off a ferociously-hit smash that reared up and cracked her in the face.

And I’ve also covered a host of wannabe Borwells who excelled at junior level, but lacked either the skill or dedication to make it to the greatest tennis tournament of all.

Last year, with her career at an all-time low, it would have been easy for the Teessider to have called time on tennis, and got herself what even she describes as a “proper job”.

Instead, she switched from singles to doubles, and embarked on an Indian Summer that has lifted her higher up the rankings than she has ever been before.

Tomorrow, she will learn who she plays in the opening round of the mixed doubles, where she will partner another Briton, Colin Fleming. Until then, it’s back to a spare bed in a friend’s house in an attempt to save some cash. So much for the life of a jet-setting tennis professional.