Laura Robson - Who Has The Problem?

2008. Laura Robson comes to the forefront of junior tennis following her success in the girls championship. At the age of 14 she became the second youngest winner of the Wimbledon Girls championship. Since that moment she hasn't looked back. She has posted victories over the likes of Clijsters, Li Na, Kvitova, Radwanska and Venus Williams.

However she has had issues with her backroom staff. Whilst she has shown improvements and certainly needs to work on that serve and also her movement. She is on her 4th coach since 2010. Bok, Mouratoglou and recently Krajan have all been given their marching orders and now she has hooked up with Miles Maclaghan who has coached Andy Murray and Marcos Bagdahtis. Krajan however didn't go so quietly and questioned Robson's attitude and professionalism. What Laura needs to do is find some stability. I think 4 coaches in 3 years is a bit much for any player. Her performances on court have been solid, but she needs to give Maclaghan time to help her and bring in his methods. Some might not credit him with much influence with Murray, but he certainly offered Andy stability off court which I think is a massive help to any pro.

Is Laura that difficult to work with that she has an attitude problem or are her expectations too high?

Or are the coaches not bringing out the best in her?

Interesting article lk.

As someone who only very occasionally follows the WTA, I don't have much to contribute on this. -  but I do have a question : is the situation wrt the ATP reflected in the women's game in terms of age/ranking, ie are teenage players noticeable by their absence at the upper echelons ...?

I have liked Laura ever since her memorable Junior Wimbledon triumph, after which I was convinced she would make top twenty or better by 21 at the latest.

She IS still very young (19 ?) so does she deserve more time versus expectations ?

Lags

Laura is the youngest player in the top 50, and there is only one player (Sloane Stevens) of a similar age ranked any higher. Clearly the days of Capriati challenging for titles as a 14 or 15 year old are long gone, and the peak age looks to be about 23-24 (so a couple of years younger than in the men's game).

I wonder if the issue with Laura and coaches is that the LTA have been having too much input into trying to 'fit' a coach to her perceived requirements (improved fitness and movement, technical work on the serve), where maybe what she needs is someone who can coax her to do the hard work herself - certainly, Maclaghan played a big part in Murray's progression from very good to the absolute elite, so maybe he's a good choice. Time will tell.

It depends how you view it lags. Oudin for example shone at the US Open in 2009 where she made the quarters IIRC when she was 17 and loss of form and injuries meant she fluctuated in the rankings. Not sure if she has ever made the top 20.

I think because the girls tend mature faster than boys in rankings and big victories, by and large to the schedule and court time (no sexism implied) kinda means you hear more about prosperous girls than you do boys.

I think Laura deserves and needs time, but are her expectations of where she wants to be a tad over-ambitious due to the limits in her game?

I think she's still struggling to come to terms about her game and hence will then fall out more with coaches

Andy had 4 in his first 2 and a half years (Smith?, Petch, Gilbert and then Miles)  -so it's not unusual

I think she has done well. Coaches turnover may be high but hard to know what's going on behind the scenes and whether it's justified.

From what I've heard during commentary in one of her matches, her mother seems to be one of those controlling parents (not in Tomic Sr's class though) who's probably got a lot to say behind the scenes.  I think Laura's just adjusting to this celebrity lifestyle she has nowadays and as I keep saying, the right coach will settle her down.  There are two things Miles needs to work on:

The mental side and coping with being "the favourite"
Her serve

As I type this now, she's down a set and a break to Hantuchova, a relic on the WTA tour.  This is the type of match she has to be winning.  As I'm not watching though, I can't tell if Hantuchova's playing a blinder or Robson is just having a bad day.  Miles needs to get her fired up for these smaller tournaments against the lower ranked players because if you can't beat them, you can't win tournaments.

The serve is her biggest strength but also her biggest weakness.  If Laura serves well, Laura wins 99% of the time.  Simples.  I'm not really one for the technical side of the game so I don't know what (if anything to do with her technique) is wrong with the serve but if Miles can get it working, then we can go back to seeing her as a top 20 player etc.  For now, she's just a dangerous floater.

Thanks for feedback re my question folks.

Whilst not knowing a huge amount about Laura's strong v weak points, I'm certainly very conscious that greater consistency has to be her fundamental target in the short term : beating Slam champions one minute but then falling (and seemingly often without much of a fight) to far less 'challenging' players the next ......

Overall I think I will stick with my let's-give-her-more time view.

It would be great to have a true star who is both female and British (though Aussie-born I believe ....) but in the broader scheme of things I've always felt that when set against the thousands upon thousands (millions?) around the world who pick up a tennis racquet every day - whether as pro or just for fun - then anyone who makes even top twenty, let alone top five, has self-evidently reached a stratospheric standard.

She's so damn slow. She has very big legs; is that all necessary or is she unfit? Obviously she might be fine as there's quite a good player around now with fairly solid physique.

bogbrush wrote:She's so damn slow. She has very big legs; is that all necessary or is she unfit? Obviously she might be fine as there's quite a good player around now with fairly solid physique.

So true.

She looks like a big lumbering oaf. I find it hard to root for players who can't seem to get into proper shape. How hard is it to do that when your 19 years old and a full time professional athlete?

Which is a real shame because I quite like her attacking approach.

Stop being mean to Laura