LONDON -- When she plays the first main-draw Wimbledon match of her career Monday, Shelby Rogers won't be allowed to wear the shoes on which she has written the word "Charleston" in magic marker.
But it hardly matters because the 22-year-old's hometown already is rooted deep in her heart, etched in her soul that much deeper after nine African-Americans attending a Bible study were shot and killed on June 17 in a downtown Charleston church by a 21-year-old who later claimed he wanted to start a race war.
Though Wimbledon rules prohibit her from playing in anything non-white in matches, Rogers said Sunday she is "trying to continue the love" by wearing the shoes in practice and doing whatever else she can.
"That's the thing to stress, the love part and the unity and how everybody is supporting each other and being there for each other in a really tough time," she said. "Hopefully I can go back and help [raise] donations. It's tough being so far away. All I can do is send up my prayers and watch my city continue to be strong."
Rogers was playing in Birmingham, England, when the shooting occurred, and though she did not know any of the victims personally, she said, "Everyone knows of them, and the Rev. [Clementa Pinckney]."
She watched Pinckney's funeral services online, and while it was difficult not being home, she said, "being on Facebook and seeing all the videos and feedback and just how the city was responding was really touching to me."
Rogers moved from Charleston to Boca Raton, Florida, when she was 18 to train at the USTA center. But the imprint of the place she was born and raised will be a part of her always.
"It was almost like growing up in a little bubble," she said. "It was this perfect setting and every time I go back, it makes my heart so happy because it's just a happy place to be."
The fact that she can still use those words to describe her hometown tells the story of a place few outside Charleston truly understood until the June 17 tragedy. Though people there have the same "Never thought it would happen here" reaction as most places where random acts of violence occur, Rogers was heartened but not surprised to see the response.
"It's nice to see people react in such a positive way and help heal each other and forgive each other and come together and move forward with love instead of more negativity coming upon the city," she said.
"Growing up there, the community has always been very close-knit and very loving and very caring and forgiving. I've seen that since my childhood, and it's really nice to see it on such a big public scale so everyone else can see it, too."
Rogers' stepfather, Jim Gabrish, who's at Wimbledon with her mother, Starley, to see Rogers play, called Charleston "a role model for other cities ... to see how people can come together."
"The shooter had a quote," Shelby Rogers said, "that he wanted to start this hateful thing, and to conquer that with the exact opposite, to conquer that with love, to not let the negative win, is really special."
Deflecting apologies that this interview was not about tennis, Rogers is obviously a very self-aware and selfless young woman and a worthy role model herself. Monday, though, does mark "a very big day for me," her first time competing at the All England Club after playing qualifying rounds off-site.
Rogers said she has been awestruck by Wimbledon, describing it as "very green and very beautiful," in advance of facing 14th-seeded Andrea Petkovic.
"I hit on the match court for the first time and it was absolute perfection," she said. "I mean, they don't overlook a thing. I saw someone yesterday scrubbing in between bricks. Every flower is perfect. There's a piece of trash, someone picks it up. Everything is immaculate. It's amazing."
She was not quite ready, however, to say the flawless surroundings put her in a similar state of mind.
"Yeah, but I don't want to do anything wrong," she said with a laugh. "I don't want to mess anything up. I feel like I have to sit with good posture, like somebody is watching me all the time."
All the better if they are.