"It needs a big shake-up" she said. "Badminton is too often associated with the village hall and that drives me mad.
"Yes, it is played in village halls, and church halls, and sports centres, which is good. It is a very popular sport at that level.
"But it is only when people see badminton at the highest level that they realise how exciting it can be.
"Something needs to be done to attract more people to the big matches. It needs to be given a bit of street cred and there is no reason why that shouldn't happen because its a bloody hard sport to play.
"Why not jazz it up like they've done with Twenty20 cricket? I'd try to get a club league established, but keep the matches short and make them cheap and fun to watch so that you get lots of local support."
Emms, whose mother Jan Barton played World Cup football for England, is happy to exploit her looks and personality in the cause of furthering a shuttlecock revolution. Hence the glamour shot for that Sunday newspaper.
But there are limits. She said "I heard of a squash girl who recently played in a thong. Well, I'd rather be known for winning an Olympic title than wearing a thong."
An Olympic triumph would be the perfect advertisement for new-look badminton, because Emms and Robertson are there to be hyped as the beauty and the beast of the British game.
If Emms brings her good looks to the court then Robertson, also 27, comes brimming with attitude.
Tall, long-haired and bearded, he will give Zhang and Gao the full treatment of stare-outs, moody body language and a barrage of leaping smashes that will send the shuttlecock flying over the net at close on 150 miles per hour.
Emms is the perfect foil for Robertson's imposing presence. One of the shortest players in elite badminton, her weapons are speed and movement at the net.
It is a male-female combination that has already proved successful with victory in the European championships earlier this year.
Their head coach, Andy Wood, observed: "Gail and Nathan have developed the kind of partnership that when one of them is struggling fractionally the other one is there to compensate.
"It's when they are at a very high level simultaneously that they really are world beaters. Yes, the Chinese pair are extremely strong. But Gail and Nathan have beaten them before and they can beat them again."
