WINNING Junior Wimbledon may come in retrospect to seem the easiest stage of her tennis career for Laura Robson. The significance of the British girl's achievement in clinching the title on Saturday by beating Noppawan Lertcheewakan of Thailand 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 should not be underestimated, but nor should the difficulty of turning youthful promise into senior success.
At 14, Robson has been hailed with almost indecent haste as the new standard-bearer of British tennis. She did indeed play magnificently over the past week to defeat girls up to three years older and far more experienced, and the title she won on No
1 Court can never be taken away from her.
Yet the transition from her current status to the professional circuit is by no means a smooth one. For every Briton who has gone from winning big as a junior to thriving on the main tour, there is another who has failed to make the jump. Andy Murray, the US Open Boys' Champion in 2004, is the outstanding example of someone who has succeeded; others such as David Sherwood did not make a prolonged stay in the pro ranks.
Robson is remarkably mature off the court as well as on. It takes nerve for a girl of that age to invite Marat Safin to the champions' ball, and she will need that maturity to cope with the vastly increased pressure she will now be under. To date she has been treated as a delightful surprise, but now her ability is known she will start to feel the burden of expectation.
There may also be the danger that the Melbourne-born teenager has been hothoused and will wilt. She is taught at home rather than attending school in order to accommodate her training schedule, and, while so far she seems pretty grounded, in the longer term that may not be the best way to provide her with a rounded understanding of life. On the other hand, the pro tour can be a curious and claustrophobic place, so it could be her present way of life becomes a good preparation for it.
Certainly, for the moment at least Robson seems not easily fazed by difficult situations. After taking command of her match against Lertcheewakan, for instance, she let the No 3 seed back into contention, and as the deciding set started the momentum was with the Thai.
Then, quite simply, Robson gave herself a brief talking to. She knew she would need to change her approach if she was to win, and she did it, simple as that.
"I think I lost the second set because I started getting annoyed with myself," she explained. "So I sat down after the second set and I thought, well, if I want to win this then I've got to change my attitude."
Few senior players can so readily shake off a negative mood and adopt an optimistic outlook, but Robson appears able to do so as easily as changing a TV channel. If it persists, that attribute will be as valuable as any of her playing strengths, although it should be said that against more imposing opposition it will be a far tougher trick to pull off.
Despite her place of birth, Robson sees herself as British, and as a white middle-class girl who lives close to Wimbledon has been adopted by the tennis establishment with alacrity. If she is to make the most of her enviable talent, however, she cannot allow herself to be contaminated by the anxieties of that establishment.
The full article contains 606 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
