Road to recovery proves tough for Laura
THE week before Laura Robson pulled off her remarkable junior Wimbledon triumph in 2008, she played a little-noticed Under-18 event at nearby Roehampton.
There, in the third round, she faced a certain Jo Konta, beating a player three years her senior 7-6 in a deciding third set.
Nearly eight years on, Konta is seeded when the French Open starts today, while Robson is among the lowest-ranked players in the draw at 329, relying on a special injury exemption to enter.
You always suspected that winning a Wimbledon title at 14 would be as much millstone as milestone for Robson, with the overnight transformation to her life and incumbent pressures.
What one could not have foreseen was the wrist injury that stopped her career in its tracks as it gradually developed in late 2013, and the effects of which are still felt today.
The impact is now more in lost confidence than physical disruption, and as she prepares to meet 28th seed Andrea Petkovic she reports she is pain-free.
‘I haven’t had any doubts with my wrist since the start of the year and that was the last time I had pain, so since then I haven’t worried about it,’ said Robson. ‘I’m still doing rehab four times a week but I’m going to be doing that for the rest of my life.
‘It’s nice to be able to get back on court every day. That was always the issue; I was able to play once and then take five days off because I still felt pain, so it’s good being able to plan a schedule.’
Nobody is more frustrated than Robson about the rate of progress she has made since returning to action after an 18-month hiatus —
which included surgery — at Eastbourne last June.
Her match record since then across all tournaments, big and small, is seven wins and 18 defeats, and her highest-ranked victim has been the world No117.
‘My wrist is fine,’ explained Robson. ‘I’m hitting it as hard as I always did. I’m trying to play a little bit more consistently but there aren’t any changes due to injuries. It took a long time. Even at the US Open last year I wasn’t hitting through it like I did before.
‘It’s definitely a struggle and it’s going to be a struggle to get my ranking back up. But I still want to do it, trying as best I can.
‘You have to adjust your expectations. My coach is very positive and everyone around me is just very happy that I’m playing, whereas I’m like: “I’m still losing, guys…”.
‘My coach (Colombian Mauricio Hadad) has been saying recently: “Think about where you were this time last year”, when I was barely playing. So to be here with a decent amount of matches and tournaments behind me is a huge difference. I think there’s no reason that I can’t get back to where I was if not better if I put the work in.’
Robson admits that there have been many lows since a halt was brought to her career at the 2014 Australian Open.
‘There have been a bunch,’ she said. ‘It was more when I started hitting again. I was so excited to be back on court and then it was more pain. I had to fly up to Minnesota and get it fixed.
‘Then it was ongoing pain so it was a really long process with a lot of doctors and way more cortisone than anyone should have. It was a struggle, but I think it has made me a more positive person.’
Robson’s injury exemptions run out next month, and it is what happens after that which will concern those who want to see her back in the top 100, where her talent demands she should be.
She is at least looking in good shape, and making all the right noises about grinding out the wins at lower-level events. She will need to do that to get back anywhere near Konta, the player she beat that summer of 2008 at the Bank of England club.
Robson described her form as ‘not too shabby’, adding: ‘I don’t feel that I’m overly far away. It’s just having that belief on the big points to play a certain way, to play aggressively, but not just flying winners. On those big points, it’s more mental than everything else. I’m sure the more matches I play, the easier it will get, and hopefully that turns into better results.’
As was always going to be the case after she won at Wimbledon, patience is needed. Perhaps just more than anyone expected.