Robson’s Wrist Problems May Keep Her Out Of The Australian Open

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 6th January 2014

Robson’s Wrist Problems May Keep Her Out Of The Australian Open

epa03841081 Laura Robson of Great Britain hits a return to Caroline Garcia of France during their match on the third day of the 2013 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2013. The US Open runs through Monday 09 September, a 15-day schedule for the first time. EPA/JASON SZENES |

Laura Robson’s chances of even starting the Australian Open have been thrown into doubt following the British no. 1 being forced to retire midway through her first match of the year at the Hobart International earlier today because of ongoing wrist problems.

The 19 year-old, who during the off-season announced a new coaching relationship with Nick Saviano and Jesse Witten, never even made it onto court at last week’s ASB Classic in Auckland when the injured left wrist forced her to withdraw before the tournament started.

In Hobart, Robson managed to win the first set 6-4 against 61st ranked Belgian Yanina Wickmayer but then the player whose ranking has been slipping steadily since achieving a career high of 27 just after Wimbledon and now stands at 46, opted to retire. The decision came after delivering a double fault that awarded her opponent an immediate break of serve in the second set.

Last year Robson accrued 160 ranking points by reaching the third round of the Australian Open before losing to eventual semi-finalist Sloane Stephens. Should she be forced to miss the action at Melbourne Park, Robson would certainly fall outside the top 50.

Prior to the match, Robson had told the tournament’s official website: “It’s going to be my first match for 2014, so I’m very excited. I haven’t played a match so I don’t know how it is going to end up, but in practice it feels okay.”

Later a post on the tournament’s official Twitter feed then indicated Robson’s injury was a recurrence of the previous problem suffered in Auckland. The Hobart International website reported : “The official reason for Robson’s mid-match retirement today was her wrist.”

After s a holiday trekking across the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina, Robson spent the next five weeks working at her fitness and tennis game at Saviano’s academy outside Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Meanwhile Robson’s British Fed Cup team-mate, Heather Watson whose 2013 schedule was seriously affected by glandular fever (mononucleosis) and saw her ranking slip to a current world no.120 after peaking at 39 last February, insists she is fully match-fit for bid to this week qualify for the Australian Open.

Watson managed to qualify in Brisbane, then losing out to 9th seed Dominka Cibulkova but fell to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round of Sydney’s qualifying. However she declared: My body’s a bit sore after quite a few matches in the past few days, but that’s exactly what I wanted in preparation for the Australian Open. You can do fitness, but match situations are very different. There’s more pressure, so I feel very match fit.”

Topics: 10sballs, Australian Open, BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, Dominka Cibulkova, Heather Watson, Hobart, Laura Robson, Sloane Stephens, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Yanina Wickmayer