Greatest British Tennis Players

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Laura Robson-A Peek into an Extraordinary Life

A little girl was born in Melbourne, Australia on 21 January 1994 to a professional basketball player and an oil executive. She was named Laura Robson, who according to her parents was a tennis enthusiast from a very young age and couldn’t wait to hold the tennis racket. At the age of six, she moved to UK and a year later she joined the Junior Tennis Academy. The world could not remain oblivious to this little miracle; she got signed by management companies like Adidas, Wilson Sporting Goods etc. at a very early age of ten. She was home schooled while training under Martijn Bok, Carl Maes and Nigel Sears.

Laura Robson plays left handed with a two handed backhand. One of her best qualities is that she hits the ball really hard, which is maybe one of the reasons why she is currently ranked 185. The junior ITF tour in the year 2007 was the first tournament she played and reached the quarterfinals. In the same year she made her appearance at the Wimbledon girls’ event as an unseeded player. She defeated the top seed Melanie Oudin to reach finals where she again defeated Noppawan Lertcheewkarn to claim her first Grand Slam title. She was the first British player to win the title in 23 years. The media called her the “Queen of Wimbledon” and the “new darling“of the British tennis.

A great debut made her a star and won her praises from prominent tennis players. In the year 2008, she made her debut in the senior ITF tour where she had to retire from the tournament due to an injury while playing Marina Melnikova. She was given many wildcard entries but wasn’t very successful until she again entered the ITF tour in Sunderland. She defeated the third seed in the quarterfinals and cleared the next two rounds to win the title at the age of 14. In the year 2009, she entered as a wildcard entrant at the ladies’ singles event of the Wimbledon championships.

Robson also made it into the US open, through wildcard entry in the qualifying tournament but lost in the final round. She had partnered with Andy Murray and had made it into the finals in the Hopman cup. In the year 2010 she also played in the Australian Open as a wildcard entrant. In the same year she also played in Wimbledon, UNICEF open and many others. In the year 2011, she changed her coach and moved to Paris, making it her new base. Due to injury, she didn’t play in any of the tournaments till March. She had a great comeback though, in the tournament at Indian Harbor beach. She played her best in the semi final, even though she lost.

Laura Robson is a rising star. All the success and the limelight she has had in her career, has definitely not affected the down-to-earth person she is. A person with talent and the right attitude is a rare mix; she is definitely one of the rarest.

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