Players Under The Microscope / Barry Millns / 30 September 2008 /

Barry Millns looks at the meteoric rise of British prodigy Laura Robson which culminated with her being the first British girl to win the Wimbledon junior title since Annabel Croft. With comparisons made between her and French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, the world is indeed her oyster.

A 14 year-old who has idolised Roger Federer and Martina Hingis, who is to say that 14 years from now Britain's Laura Robson won't also be regarded as one of the stars of the sport? Of course, the road to greatness is long and hard, with all sorts of potential pitfalls along the way, but judging by the splash she made this year at junior Wimbledon and the promising start to her professional career, the left-handed prodigy really does have great expectations.

Her birthplace was Melbourne, but since the age of six when she first played tennis, Robson has been raised in Wimbledon, just five minutes walk from the All England Club where she strode onto the world stage in July as if to the manor born. Guided by Dutch coach Martijn Bok, she was already a seasoned traveller who spends four months of the year training abroad, before her journey brought her back home for her first tilt at a junior grand slam.

What a wonderful week it turned out to be, five matches all won in straight sets against much older players prior to her three-set triumph over 3rd seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand in the final, watched by more than 11,000 fans crammed around Court 1 and a national television audience of millions! Along the way she dismissed the top seed Melanie Oudin of the United States, having lost their first encounter the week before in the final at Roehampton, a clear sign that Robson is a fast learner.

As the first British girl to win the Wimbledon junior title since Annabel Croft back in 1984, Robson was splashed across the front pages, as well as the back, following her stunning achievement. But for one so young she handled all the attention with aplomb and thankfully these days there are sufficient restrictions in place that the dangers of burnout and over-exposure should be avoided.

Having jumped up to No.5 in the junior world rankings as a result, homework and more training at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton were then Robson's priorities post Wimbledon, before she turned professional earlier this month. Having qualified for the main draw of the ITF Women's Circuit tournament in Limoges, Robson duly won her first 'senior' match against a 22-year-old before a shoulder injury forced her to retire during her second round contest.

But, thankfully, she made a quick recovery and last week on her return to these shores, Robson reached the semi-finals in Shrewsbury with wins over Sarah Borwell (ranked No.325), former Wimbledon junior champion Ursula Radwanska (No. 128) and Tzipora Obziler (No.123). Eventually fatigue and 2nd seed Maret Ani (No.105) got the better of the youngster 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 but despite her disappointment at not going further, she regarded it as a "really good week".

Borwell, who had faced Ana Ivanovic two years ago at Wimbledon, made this comparison after losing to her young compatriot: "Laura reminds me of her. I thought I would be able to hit her off the court a bit but she moves well and sees the ball very early.

"She hits very aggressively and that shocked me a bit at the start. After watching her matches at Wimbledon I thought she might struggle against more powerful players but she has this awareness of where the ball is going. She also returns extremely well."

It is that kind of court-craft which I remember seeing in the 12-year-old Hingis when she won the junior French Open title, and like the Swiss Miss there is a feistiness about Robson on court which will stand her in good stead, providing she maintains her focus. As Andy Murray has shown this year being able to display positive emotion and connect with the crowd can reap huge benefits and Robson has it in her to follow suit.

She now needs to play in one more tournament to gain an official WTA ranking. That will come next month in Barnstaple and another run like last week's could see her immediately crack the world's Top 400.

Yet she and those around her should not be worrying about numbers right now, it is all about making a steady progression, serving her apprenticeship and refining her craft. The signs are she will do exactly that.

"I now know I can play with the women players but they have got so much more experience," Robson said in Shrewsbury. "I'm still going to play juniors in the big events next year and just work my way into the women's tour because there is no rush at all."

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