Читать книгу Laura Robson - The Biography - Tina Campanella - Страница 14
ОглавлениеIn October 2008, Laura made her main draw debut in the WTA Fortis Luxembourg Open on a wildcard – the youngest British player in history to do so.
She was still just 14, barely a teenager, and she had only just earned her first world career ranking of 550. It was a great starting point to ascend from, but it was just that – a starting point.
Robson was certainly rocketing on in her career, and had made a good impression on the women’s ITF circuit, but the WTA tour was a whole new ballgame. This was where the best players in the world competed for huge prize monies and vital points to boost their rankings. It was a serious place, and not one that was often frequented by youngsters like Robson.
Her first-round opponent, world No. 42 Iveta Benesova, had never even heard of the Wimbledon girls’ champ before she saw her name on the draw sheet. But she was certainly taken aback by the power and precision that the youngster attacked her with during the first set. Within 20 minutes, and after dropping just one game, Robson was a set up, and it was clear the Czech player didn’t quite know how to deal with the teenager.
It was a dream start to Laura’s debut on the WTA tour, and it didn’t seem at all like Benesova was playing a girl a decade younger and more than 500 places below her in the rankings. In the gallery above the indoor court, a little scrum of seasoned players had appeared to watch the newbie, who, as far as they were concerned, had come out of nowhere to play her first match.
If she had been on the junior circuit, it’s safe to say that Robson would have continued to steamroll her way to glory, after successfully putting the frighteners on her poor opponent. But, as Laura was about to find out, things were very different on the main circuit.
After her initial shock, the left-handed Benesova soon got the measure of her sporting foe and turned the game around with ease. It was like she’d been shocked by the initial strength of a wasp sting, and now she exacted her devastating punishment on its perpetrator.
Robson couldn’t maintain her dominance and began to slide in the second set. Hitting her head with her racket in frustration, she knew what was happening: she was being naturally outclassed and there was simply nothing she could do. As the match drew to a close, Laura let out an anguished cry that was half scream, half sob. But the 25-year-old Czech won the battle of left-handers 1-6; 6-2; 6-3.
‘I started very well,’ the young British player said in self-consolation after the match, before admitting: ‘The second set maybe didn’t go as well and she started playing very well.’
Laura had flexed her adult muscles, but she still needed a lot more experience before she moved into the adult leagues full-time. It was certainly no reflection on her tennis ability, or her future potential.
It was time to head back to the ITF and even the world of junior tennis for a while, and she did so as the newly pronounced No. 5 seed. ‘Everyone on the tour has been really friendly and I’ve enjoyed it,’ she said respectfully. She stayed on in the Grand Duchy for a while to learn from the players, thoroughly humbled by her experience.
Then she took that experience home to the ITF circuit, with a renewed determination to climb to the top.
Her first tournament upon her return took place at Sunderland’s Puma Centre, where the winner would receive £772.
It’s safe to say that Laura didn’t enter the competition for the promise of a huge payday. But it was here, on a dreary November day, that she claimed her maiden senior title – she hoped it was to be the first of many. It may have been the lowest level of tournament on the ITF senior circuit, but Robson was overjoyed to power through the Futures Event and beat fellow Brit Samantha Vickers, a 17-year-old ranked 1,052 on the world list, in the final.
Robson was 14 years and 9 months old, and her grin as she sealed the win was infectious.
A few days later, she made the headlines again: she had been shortlisted for the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year, alongside diver Tom Daley and paralympic swimmer Eleanor Simmonds.
The panel who chose to shortlist Laura included former winners Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Kate Haywood, various representatives of the Youth Sport Trust, and BBC Sport presenters John Inverdale and Jake Humphrey.
Jake explained their decision to include Laura, saying:
Laura is just what British tennis is crying out for – a winner. It’s important to remember the pressure she had to deal with on the way to winning Wimbledon.
She had previously competed in much lower-profile events in front of a few hundred spectators, yet at SW19 she looked like she was born to play on Number 1 Court.
The huge TV audience and press interest didn’t faze her and she achieved a monumental feat. She was the youngest competitor at Wimbledon, has gone on to a pro-career and her success continues to generate interest.
In an interview with the BBC, aired before the winner was announced, Laura gave her fans the biggest insight yet into her personality off the court.
She was shy and softly spoken – speaking with the same perfect diction she had used in post-match interviews.
But she didn’t stick to tennis talk.
Instead, she giggled childishly as she admitted to knowing all the words and dance steps to the popular High School Musical films. She explained how she never missed an episode of American teen drama Gossip Girl, revealed her desire to be able to draw better and told how her latest hobby was learning how to juggle.
She loved shopping, hated spiders and bugs and thought her worst habit was biting her nails. She also said she was grateful that the publicity surrounding her Wimbledon win had died down, and she could go shopping again without really being noticed.
Her favourite music to play before a competition was ‘Eye of the Tiger’ – the famous Rocky theme tune – and the albums on her iPod currently included Rihanna and the Kings of Leon. She said that the biggest sacrifice she had made for her sport was the constant travelling, but added: ‘I don’t really miss home all that much, so I’m fine with it.’
It could have been an interview with any 14-year-old in the country, and it was an important glimpse into the ‘girl behind the racket’. And, after hearing so many warnings about the importance of maintaining a real childhood in such an adult world, it was a relief to discover that Laura was a perfectly normal teenager, and had succeeded in separating her personal from her professional life.
But what set her apart from the other giggling schoolgirls her age was the small fire that burned continuously inside her. And even in the BBC’s light-hearted interview, she couldn’t disguise her serious ambition.
When asked why she wanted to win Young Personality of the Year, she wrote her answer down on a board before turning it to face the camera. It read: Because I don’t like losing…
This time she had to lose – because the award went to 13-year-old paralympian Eleanor Simmonds, who had been Britain’s youngest individual paralympic gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics. With it being an Olympics year, there had been stiff competition – in other circumstances, it seems obvious that Laura would have been a shoe-in for the prestigious award.
As 2008 was drawing to a close, Laura had a few more tournaments to play before she would fly to Australia for a good old-fashioned family Christmas with her grandparents. Her relations ‘Down Under’ must have been keen to celebrate the end of an incredible year with their beautiful and talented export.
And she was planning to warm up in some junior events in Oz before going after her next Grand Slam – the Australian Open.
But first Laura was off to Florida, where she hoped to claim her third Eddie Herr trophy and her first Orange Bowl. Returning to Eddie Herr was like a homecoming – she had won twice before, and, after her explosive year of success, spectators were hoping to see some great tennis from the youngster.
However, it quickly became apparent that something was wrong.
In the second round, she faced Nicole Bartnik, a 17-year-old Bollettieri student whom she had beaten in the spring at the ITF Italian Junior Open.
Despite being the top seed at the under 18s event, Laura struggled from the outset. She couldn’t find her rhythm and played poorly. Down 4-0 in the third set, when yet another of her shots caught the tape, she yelled out: ‘I can’t play any worse!’
The disappointed crowd silently agreed.
After pulling back just one game from her opponent, Laura lost 5-7; 6-3; 1-6 and was out of the tournament. Commentators called it the ‘Junior Tennis Upset of the Year’ and everyone wondered if she was overtired, jetlagged, or worse. But, with the Orange Bowl tournament just days away, there was no time to dwell on her defeat.
With such strict limits in place on how many senior events the younger players could play to protect them from injury, it struck some fans as odd that Eddie Herr and the Orange Bowl were played out on consecutive weeks. Nonetheless, Laura progressed through the first two rounds of her next tournament, dropping just six games along the way. Her serve was noticeably slow in her second-round match, displaying none of the intense power it was known for.
In her third-round match, she finally admitted she had a problem. She had pulled a stomach muscle and, despite having bravely attempted to play through the pain, it had now got too much for her. She retired from the tournament. Laura had to watch the rest of the action from the sidelines, with a huge bag of ice strapped around her waist.
Though it had started so morosely, 2008 had eventually turned into a vintage year for British sport. Nineteen gold medals had meant glory at the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, Formula One success had come for Lewis Hamilton, Joe Calzaghe had punched his weight in the boxing ring and Andy Murray had risen to a career best No. 4 in the world tennis rankings.
And, of course, Britain had met and fallen in love with little Laura Robson, their new heroine of tennis.
Britain finally had something to celebrate and, on New Year’s Eve, people raised their glasses with a little more enthusiasm than they had done the year before.
