Robson Working On Getting A Wimbledon Seed

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 14th May 2013

Robson Working On Getting A Wimbledon Seed

epa03614482 Laura Robson of UK returns a shot during her match against Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 07 March 2013. Arvidsson won the match. EPA/PAUL BUCK |

Laura Robson’s main ambition for the next few weeks is to score sufficient victories to secure a place amongst Wimbledon’s list of 32 seeded singles players. However the British teenager could today join an accomplished club of former world no1’s who have scored back–to-back victories against the Williams sisters.

Robson put herself in with a chance by beating Venus 6-3,6-2 in the initial round of the Internazionale BNL d’Italia in Rome, claiming the most prestigious, if not the highest ranked scalp of her career. Now this evening she will be hoping Serena is still suffering the after effects of winning the Mutua Madrid Open title just 48 hours earlier and if she succeeds the 19 year-old will emulate the feats of Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Steffi Graf, Martina Hings, Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic.

Sanchez Vicario was the first to do the double at Sydney in 1998 when a teenaged Serena was still ranked 96 in the world. Sydney was also the scene of Graf’s wins a year later while Hingis did it at the 2001 Australian Open. Clijsters was dominant at the 2002 WTA Championships in Los Angeles, Davenport’s two victories came at the 2004 Los Angeles event and Henin scored the double at the 2007 US Open.

Jankovic, the only other non-Grand Slam title winner amongst the list perhaps scored the most pertinent and certainly the most recent back to back wins when she beat Venus in the Rome quarter final three years ago and followed up against top ranked Serena in the semi.

“I remember watching Serena at Wimbledon in 2010 when I won the junior title, “ said Robson. “I was just aged 14 years old at the time and was pretty pumped but I remember saying that one day I was going to take her down. That might come back to haunt me.”

Robson is experiencing an upturn in her form following the sacking of coach Zeljko Krajan. Previously she suffered a dismal run of seven tournaments in which she had won only two matches.

Last week she beat world no.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in Madrid. Previously she has overcome Petra Kvitova (at the Australian Open in January), Li Na and Clijsters (both at last year’s US Open). So clearly she reserves her best form for the marquee opponents.

“I think most people love those big matches because it’s always so easy to play when you’ve got nothing to lose and you’re playing against a higher-ranked opponent,” Robson said when asked to explain those fluctuations in form. “It’s definitely tougher playing against opponents that you’re expected to beat.”

Currently ranked world no.39, she appreciates a couple more wins are required to make the All England Club’s seeding list of 32. “Wimbledon would be a great one, just so that I could avoid a seed in the first round and really try to do some damage on the grass,” Robson said. “If you’re not seeded you could always end up playing Serena Williams in the first round. But it definitely takes a lot of hard work to get there.”