Laura Robson: The Rising Star – Tennis Special
World number 53, Laura Robson, received a reward for her outstanding performance in the year 2012 and secured the title of being the WTA Tour’s new upcoming tennis star.
Talking to the media, Robson said, “It’s a huge honour to have won the 2012 WTA Newcomer of The Year award. I looked at the list of past winners and it’s certainly a very impressive line-up that includes many of my idols growing
up. I hope that I can go on to achieve close to what many of the past winners have achieved in their careers.”
She had a relatively weaker start this the year and usually qualified until the first round of all the major WTA events. She received a straight sets defeat by the Serbian professional, Jelena Jankovic, in the initial round of
the Australian Open. A similar trend continued at the French Open, where she received a three-set crash at the hands of the Spanish veteran, Anabel Medina Garrigues.
The 18-year-old displayed a sudden upwards transcend at the London Olympics, silencing all her critics. She attained the maximum advantage of her home ground and rallied forward against the Czech participant, Lucie Safarova, giving
her straight set defeat. For the second round, she was paired against the Russian beauty, Maria Sharapova, but was unable to withstand her might. She also won the Olympic silver medal with the British number one, Andy Murray, in the mixed doubles category.
Robson’s performance at the US Open was breath taking, presenting a considerable improvement in her trend as she defeated the higher ranked Chinese contender, Na Li, in the third round. However, she concluded a straight sets loss
4-6, 4-6 at the hands of the Aussie professional, Samantha Stosur, who proved to be far more experienced than she was.
The British junior qualified until the final round of the Guangzhou International Women. She skilfully battled through all the rounds, defeating all her contenders in straight sets. In the final round, she bagged away a three setter
defeat at the hands of the Chinese Taipei senior, Su-Wei Hsieh.
At the China Open held at the hard courts of Beijing, the British qualifier contested at a decent pace. She struggled until the second round of the WTA Premier-level event, manifesting a considerable improvement in her performance
as the matches continued. In the second round, she was unable to handle the pressure at the hands of the 31-year-old Spanish challenger and pocketed away a straight sets loss.
Robson was the eighth seeded player at the HP Japan Women’s Open held at the hard courts of Osaka. This time around, she prevailed over her opponents until the quarter-finals. However, she received a three sets shocker at the hands
of the Taipei native, Kia Chen Chang.
She is first British female tennis player to make it to the singles final at a WTA Tour event in 22 years. She is the first Brit to win one of the awards since 1977 received by Virginia Wade. With a little more experience, the
young British challenger has a fair chance to upset all the leading players in the field. The former winner list includes, Kim Clijster, Maria Sharapova, Venus and Serena Williams, Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: