Laura Robson’s New Coach Thinks She Can Play With The Top Players

Written by: Staff on 28th August 2012

Laura Robson's New Coach Thinks She Can Play With The Top Players

epa03329922 Laura Robson of Great Britain returns to Maria Sharapova of Russia during the London 2012 Olympic Games Tennis competition in Wimbledon, Greater London, Britain, 31 July 2012. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Britain’s 18 year-old Olympic silver medalist Laura Robson will play Kim Clijsters in the second round of the US Open and the youngster’s new coach Zeljko Krajan sees no reason why his new charge cannot soon be vying regularly with the very top players.

Robson, who paired up with Andy Murray to win silver in the Mixed Doubles, only losing out to the mighty Belorussian pairing of Victoria Azarenka and Mix Mirnyi, has been working with Krajan for just a couple of weeks.

The Croatian Davis Cup captain has previously coached former world no.1 Dinara Safina and has also worked with top flight WTA competitors like Dominka Cibulkova and Jelena Jankovic. He insisted: “As for Laura’s potential, I don’t see any limits.

“The material is great to work on but it is not just the shots but many other aspects, what you think about tennis and how professional you are around it. The problem is that the best juniors get things given to them because it seems to be so easy and the change from this is how much they want to fight and to work for your tennis to be rewarded in the end.”

Up to this point in Robson’s career, the main problem has been confusion with too many people offering different forms of advice. She has been advised by the Lawn Tennis Association, with Luke Milligan coaching her for much of last year, the adidas Development Program under Sven Groeneveld and the Mouratolglou Tennis Academy.

“Surely she can be part of the group with the chance to win the bigger tournaments,” said 33-year-old Krajan who was appointed after the Olympics following an extensive selection process. “Laura definitely has the material to be there but I don’t want to focus on the rankings.

“My job is to develop her game, because she is very far from using her potential and everything she has. She doesn’t even know herself how good she is. I have to open her eyes a little bit more to what she has.

“Was what she lacks in discipline because she did not have it herself before or those around her did not have it or she did not trust them? I don’t know. I cannot judge what happened before with other people. She needs to find the new things she needs from her game to improve.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: 10sballs.com, Dinara Safina, Dominka Cibulkova, Jelena Jankovic, Kim Clijsters, Laura Robson, Mix Mirnyi, Sports, Tennis News, US Open 2012, Victoria Azarenka, Zeljko Krajan