Rob McLean - Time is of the essence for Laura Robson
We all know about Andy Murray's potential to be a Grand Slam champion, now it is the turn to crank up the pressure on Laura Robson, who is 16 years old on January 21.
Robson, born in Australia to Australian parents, is obviously British - and don't let them tell you otherwise.
The media hype is starting and being somewhat photogenic, the newspapers won't need any excuse to publish her photograph win or lose. This will probably delight Murray that someone else has emerged to take a bit of the spotlight off him when the annual Wimbledon feeding frenzy begins.
The sooner she starts moving up the rankings the better. In women's tennis there is no time for standing still, no waiting until your 20s to make your mark.
You win a couple of Slams in your teens and then face burnout or rebel, or your name is Williams.
Martina Hingis, Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati, Maria Sharapova and Andrea Jaeger are just some of the players who had all made the grade by the age of 16.
Saying she has time on her side is not an option when there is another conveyer belt of Eastern European machines being pressed into service.
For the last few days it has been difficult to avoid the fevered speculation in the press about the long-term prospects of Robson on the back of reaching the final of the Hopman Cup, an exhibition but very competitive event, with Murray.
The Aussies, including former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, have fallen for Laura and are already thinking of ways of claiming her back as one of their own. Too late, mate.
For one thing, we want her to represent Great Britain with Murray at the 2012 Olympics. Two more years together and the medal is a shoo-in, so let's hope that she was only half-joking when she turned down his invitation to partner him in London.
Both will have bigger fish to fry before then but Robson is clearly our best bet of adding to the Grand Slam achievements of Virginia Wade (1977) and Sue Barker (1976).
No worries for Belgium
The comebacks of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin have revitalised the nation and Clijsters, after doing a brief impersonation of Jana Novotna choking, got the better of her old rival in the Brisbane final.
It does beg the question, again, about the strength in depth of the women's game and how a player who hasn't played for 18 months can come back and get straight to a final.
Another Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer, is threatening to muscle in on their rivalry. The 20-year-old won the WTA event in Auckland having just returned to the game after a ban for repeatedly failing to report her whereabouts for drugs testing.
Elsewhere, the new season has had other surprising winners. Few would have tipped Nikolay Davydenko to follow up his ATP World Finals success with back-to-back wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in Doha and even less so Andy Roddick winning his first title for seven months in Brisbane after returning from a knee injury.
Roddick is now safely installed as the 'people's favourite' after his Wimbledon heroics but he would be much happier to lose the tag of 'one Slam wonder' at the Australian Open. For Robson it is now three gruelling qualifying rounds just to make the main draw in Melbourne. She won't be short of support.
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Date published :
12 Jan 2010 - 07:26:48
