New British No 1: Laura Robson

Congratulations to Laura Robson for becoming the top ranked British Lady.

This has come about because of points dropped last week by Heather Watson.

Onwards and Upwards

British Ladies
..... Name .................. Age ... WTA ranking
1... Laura Robson ....... 18 ..... 75
2... Heather Watson .... 20 ..... 76
3... Anne Keothavong .. 29 ..... 82
4... Elena Baltacha ...... 29 ..... 142
5... Johanna Konta ...... 21 ..... 148
6... Tara Moore ........... 20 ..... 241

British Men
..... Name .................. Age ... ATP ranking
1... Andy Murray ......... 25 ..... 3
2... Josh Goodall ........ 26 ..... 211

ps: Laura has an opportunity to extend her position as British No 1 as she is the only player in the top four playing this week - the $220 k WTA international event in Guangzhou, China (surface Hard, Deco-Turf) http://www.wtatennis.com/page/Tournaments/Info/0,,12781~1142,00.html

Her first round match is against a Spaniard ranked lower than her. One whoever that went on a pretty impressive streak on clay earlier this season.

http://www.wtatennis.com/page/Player/Activity/0,,12781~13943,00.html

I suppose a lot will also depend on how well she recovers from the travel and acclimatises to the conditions.

Barring injuries, Laura should be British number one for a very long time. The USO was very encouraging for her. How high do people think she can get?

Top 25 but her movement will always let her down vs the very top I feel although it's getting better. However, there are no bigger hitters on tour and with that power she always has the potential to cause upsets and have good runs at specific events. Of course at the moment she is the hunter, once her ranking rises others will become alerted to her and they'll start to work out strategies of playing her.

Nonetheless a fantastic achievement to break in top 75 at 18 yrs old....on the men's side the guys that do that tend to go on to be top 5 players!

Good on her - comes on the back of about 2 months of very good performances, with her strong showing in Italy on clay, at the Olympics with Andy and then the USO.

I think Lydian is being somewhat conservative in reckoning top 25 (at least on where her peak ranking may reach - top 20 or 25 as a consistent level may well be not a bad guess), although obviously there are still a couple of unknowns about how well her serve will develop (it's good but erratic at the moment) and how much her movement will continue to improve. The good thing throughout her senior career is that she's shown the ability to compete with and recently occasionally to get the better of some very serious players. Very promising at 18.

Sharapova's movement isn't great and she does ok. I think she will/should be GB's number 1 for the next 10 years at least. Hev is alright but will never reach the top (she might be a good clay courter at best), Keothavong..... and Baltacha is finished, more or less.

As for how far she'll get.... We don't know for sure but if she keeps improving like she does then she'll go far. She's got all the attributes for a top player but needs a bit more consistency in her serve and a little improvement on her movement which I think she'll get as she's working with one of Murray's fitness coaches (I think it's Jez Green, I'm not quite sure).

For me a top 20 player in the next 12 months for sure.

The serve needs a lot of work. It is often remarked how technically flawed it is and once her shoulder drops on the toss she hits her serve far too low. The movement for me is not such an issue given how powerful and deep her groundstrokes are. She beat Clijsters and Na who are both renowned for their movement.

Also how does she handle the expectation placed on her due to her US Open showing. Melanie Oudin was one tipped for the top due to her run at the US Open back in 2009 and she has fallen away and has become an inconstent feature in the top 100.

no reason she can't be top 10, the shot making ability is there, the mental strength seems to be there too (though she needs to learn how to front run a bit better), she's got a great return of serve (watch the way she throws her hands through the ball on the return), and the movement's improving (light and day between her at the AO and at the US Open).

I see she won her first round comfortably (6-2 3-1 when the other girl retired) as she should really. First serve percentage poor (39%) but demolished her opponent's serve apparently. She faces n°2 seed Zheng Zie next up, tough ask but not impossible...

She has a Del Potro like serve. Slow timing yet so powerful. Is also becoming a lot busier in the rallies than she used to be, maybe down to working with Murray/Judy.

To conclude with this formula she will go on to lose her first 4 slam finals to superior talents.

I think top 10 and potential slam winner. She hits the ball great off both wings and has a big first serve. That's a great platform to build off for an 18 year old. Her movement has already improved, and can improve further.

She can have huge dips, but that's the same for most young players. Her serve is wildly unpredictable, and she leaks a lot of double faults. But if you beat Kim and Li Na back to back in a slam you're already not far off.

The good thing for her too is that I just don't see the next 5 years in the women's game as being particularly strong vs 90s or 00s, so she's coming in at a good time. Some years back I think her movement in faster conditions would have exposed her more but less so of course now in this power and drilled ralleys era.

Her movement really is as poor as anyone though. Perhaps it can be improved but players will wise up to her and keep her moving.

It's essential she tackles it or I think a top 25 ranking might be optimistic.

Bogbrush - really? Despite her performances against Kim, Li Na and Stosur in New York?

I think with her movement as it is now she can get into the top 25. If she improves it then she really is in business.

Laura is progressing nicely. I wonder if there will be any other British women to support both Laura's and Heathers steady rise up the rankings. Konta seems like a determined young lady - I think she could be breaking into the top 100 over the next year. Liza Whybourne also looked like a good prospect before the injury which knocked her back, but she seems to be in a better condition now.

Laura's movement and fitness has improved immeasurably over a short space of time from wotking with Andy Murray's fitness coach and the longer she works at it with him it surely will only get better. With runs like she had at Flushing Meadows will come confidence and self-belief and this will also do her the world of good.

Buts let's not forget you can only improve movement to a degree...you can't turn Robson into Clijsters, some of them are just lightening quick. Her strength is taking an early ball and pulverising it into the corners.

Sharapova is a good example of someone who had poor movement, but improved it sufficiently for it not to be a huge hindrance to get game.

Granted, she hasn't turned into Ferrer, but it's good enough for her to no longer refer to herself as 'a cow on ice'.

Laura will never be a great mover, but it's possible for her to be an ok mover. If she manages to do that and get a bit more consistent with her ground strokes and serve, then top 10 for me. Maybe even top 5.

Danny_1982 wrote:Bogbrush - really? Despite her performances against Kim, Li Na and Stosur in New York?

I think with her movement as it is now she can get into the top 25. If she improves it then she really is in business.

Yeah, I think it's a big problem. If players start to pay attention to her she'll have to start contending with peoole wrong-footing her. I think she could find that tough. Good luck to her though.

The significant thing between Robson and Watson is not the insignificant ranking gap of 1 but the age gap, overall potential and style of play.

Laura Robson v Donna Vekic USO final in 4 years time.

Book it

Buts let's not forget you can only improve movement to a degree

I'd suggest you cannot improve movement at all, your bone structure will always hinder you reaching another level.

Robson has taken the first set against Zheng 6-3

Good stuff. She needs to be beating players like Zheng consistently; those who float about ranked 20-50 but will never really make themselves a permanent fixture at the top.

she's now 3-0 to the good in the second set too (can't watch, just following live scores). I agree, if she wants to make it to the very top (top 10 I'm sure she can achieve) these are the sorts of matches (tournaments?) she needs to be winning.

Well Bartoli withdrew injured I think so if she takes out the 2nd seed she'll have a great chance. It's all about following up on her good results though, as she did as the USO and has to keep doing. Things can only get better though. Not sure on the other seeds in the draw so I don't know if there's anyone dangerous left. Aggy's sister Urszula is in good form I think.

Broken English ^^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Guangzhou_International_Women%27s_Open_%E2%80%93_Singles

Robson breaks again to lead 5-1 and will serve for the match

Making hard work of it though

Oh dear. I might have to re-cork the champagne.

Does it eventually.

well she made a bit of a meal of it but got it done at the second time of asking, and that's a pretty impressive 6-3 6-3 win over the n°2 seed you have to say. Good to see she seems to be carrying through her Us Open form.

Getting way ahead of ourselves there's no player left in the draw who screams "better player" to me (Bartoli was the class of the field but had a stomach bug apparently - been quite a few retirements actually). I think it's a great chance for Laura to win a tournament here

Peng next. Decent player but her ranking has dropped about 20 places from the last time I saw her. Will be dangerous but I think Laura can beat her.

Great news

If she could make a run to the final she'd move up 20 WTA places to around mid-50s.

A few interesting players left in the field - several who've peaked somewhere in the 20s in the rankings but are now between about 30 and 50. All potentially beatable for Laura if she plays well, but all will provide a solid test. lost to Ursula Radwanska a few weeks ago in Cincinatti qualifying, so a rematch would be interesting to gauge Laura's progress since then.

Half a chance of a first tour title though - was a good tournament to go to after the USO success, as she was always likely to win a few more matches at this level of tournament rather than going out quickly with a bad draw in a tournament where the top 10 are present. Winning does a lot for confidence.

If everything remains as is, then predicted rankings next week are:

..... Name .................. Age ... WTA ranking
1... Laura Robson ....... 18 ..... 65
2... Heather Watson .... 20 ..... 83
3... Anne Keothavong .. 29 ..... 84

note: both Heather & Anne will be dropping points from last year which explains their further small fall in the rankings.

Robson making a meal of the 1st set v Peng. She had numerous set points at 5-1 on the Peng serve, a set point or 2 on her own serve at 5-2 and is now serving for it at 5-4.

And another two set points slip by.

this is one thing I'd like to see her improve on: her front running. I think she plays very well when she's up against it but sometimes struggles to close things out (witness yesterday when she was broken while serving for the match, today, and there've been a couple of other occasions I think). This should improve with experience you hope...

she's just let a 5-1 lead slip here, not good

From 5-4 40-15 to 5-5. Bizarre. For such a good serve it really is a weakness.

And she'll serve for it a 3rd time after breaking to make it 6-5. Strange match indeed,

I'm sure you'd become a rich man pretty quickly just betting on the reciever winning the game in womens tennis.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:this is one thing I'd like to see her improve on: her front running. I think she plays very well when she's up against it but sometimes struggles to close things out (witness yesterday when she was broken while serving for the match, today, and there've been a couple of other occasions I think). ...

Add tournament mentality and play. Winning a few big matches is great, winning a string of matches one day following the next is more difficult ... as the play gets more difficult in later rounds. Factor in day to day variability in conditions and what side of the bed she got out of ... plus she may be switching between different courts ... etc. I had a feeling that this round would pose difficulty. She may still pull through. It's all part of the learning process.

3 set points. Surely?

Take it on what felt like the 15th set point.

Finally! 7-5, hopefully that'll give her the confidence to race through the 2nd set but I definitely wouldn't bet on it.

gets it done eventually

harder than it should have been, but let's not forget she's playing a player ranked above her, who's been in the world top 20 or so (I think), let's cut her some slack...

I think she took it on the 8th SP.

Agreed MFC, but why do British players insist on putting us watching them through the wringer?

do they Juan? surely the Olympics final was as straightforward as they come

The Special Juan wrote:I think she took it on the 8th SP.

Agreed MFC, but why do British players insist on putting us watching them through the wringer?

To be fair most of the British players don't. We know they are going to lose and they do.