Seventeen months.
It’s the amount of time that former British #1 Laura Robson has spent away from the WTA tour. Today, this former prodigy made her long awaited — and often postponed — comeback to women’s tennis, taking on Eastbourne’s top qualifying seed: Daria Gavrilova. The Russian-turned-Aussie has already pushed Simona Halep and defeated Maria Sharapova this year. Talk about an unfortunate draw.
21-year-old Robson has endured a ghastly year and a half. It has seen left wrist surgery sideline her from professional competition, sheer jealousy stop her from checking the WTA rankings, and her world ranking become non-existent. Since her teenage days of sending Kim Clijsters into retirement, and recording a long list of high-profile scalps, Laura has been deprived of the opportunity to shine.
With weeks upon weeks of travelling, movies, mini tennis and training now behind her, the tennis world sighed with relief as the former Junior Wimbledon champion re-graced the competitive court. But a 6-0 6-1 loss in 58 minutes surely won’t please the star on her return to the sport, however likely it was to happen.
What should be expected of Laura Robson so early on in her comeback campaign? And what should she expect from herself?
The Return Of Laura Robson: A Question Of Approach
During her last few months on tour before her setback, Robson was experiencing some unusual difficulties. Whenever she was drawn against a top twenty player, Britain’s darling was on fire — often winning, and always considered for the upset. However, this accompanied a struggle of losing regularly to any girl outside of that calibre. When faced with ‘the rest’ of the tour, the Londoner’s “A” game was hard to come by. This balanced her in a precarious position at the edge of the world’s top fifty, and it was from there that she went into freefall after her injury.
However, a few years ago, the young star professed that when she played the top girls, she went out with nothing to lose, and played her game. Her lefty serve and booming groundstrokes proved enough to inflict the necessary damage. It was actually when she emerged against the lower-ranked competition that the former world #27 froze up. Easily frustrated, she would allow a couple of wild errors to derail the rest of her game.
Laura Robson has little patience with herself, and heaps up self-inflicted pressure with the enthusiasm of the infamous British media. It is the root of her past problems.
But after seventeen months on the sidelines, Robson appears to have learned the art of patience. Having not played competitive tennis since the age of 19, she has done the sensible thing by calling off returns at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, the ITF tournament in Surprise, and many more. On her return today, this demonstrated wisdom provides hope that she has matured as a person and as a player. And equally, those lessons learned should help her take the time to ease back, slowly, into tour life.
As a bonus, she has nothing to lose. She is unranked, with not a single WTA point to defend. If she can bring herself to look at things with an open mind — forgetting that Sharapova won her first Slam at 17, and that ex-mate Bouchard is already in the top twenty — Robson will see that she has every reason to let go and swing.
She’s rusty and out of practise, but given the necessary time, everything will start to drift back into place. The important thing is not to rush, and not to panic. After how far she has already gone, the mountain she must now climb will look bewildering, disheartening and frustrating. But her past results are set in stone, and still have their place. The name she worked for herself through them will now earn her wild cards, and inflict nerves upon her opponents.
As for her ability, it will reappear again soon, and reappear for good, because it never left. Talent doesn’t die that quickly.
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