Despite being knocked out in the 4th round of the US Open last night Laura Robson has signalled her arrival as Britain’s next big thing tennis wise.
Her performances at Flushing Meadows will mean a sharp ascent into the world’s top 50, and obviously more expectation and pressure to produce repeat performances.
But having beaten Kim Clijsters and Li Na, two experienced grand slam champions Britain should be optimistic and excited that we may have finally uncovered a decent female tennis player.
Robson’s run in New York made her the first female Brit to reach the 4th round of any slam for 14 years, which is frankly a shocking state of affairs, but all will be forgotten if she can kick on and begin to consistently make it to the second week of the majors.
This may sound as if I’m going off in a completely different direction but bear with me, in 2004 Andy Murray won the junior title at the US Open and since then looked at how he’s kicked on and become the best male tennis player we’ve had since the 30s.
In 2008 Robson won the junior title at Wimbledon and while she’s taken a little longer to break through and make a major statement on the main tour, who’s to say she can’t follow Murray’s example and develop into one of the very best and who knows maybe win a grand slam or two.
I know what you’re thinking, it’s just one event, she’s only 18, you need to calm down, but of course I’m going to get carried away and expect far too much I’m British, it’s kind of what we do.
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