2008 Wimbledon girls’ singles champion Laure Robson admitted it was hard for her to come to terms with retirement. Robson, 28, announced her retirement from tennis in May. Robson was once considered as one of the most talented and promising players in the game but injuries halted her progress and prevented her from fulfilling her potential.
Robson battled varios injuries throughout the 2014 and 2015 seasons, before undergoing a hip surgery in 2018. Robson appeared in three ITF events in 2019, before officially confirming her retirement this past May. “It took me a good couple of months to say it out loud,” Robson told Tennis365.
“To be honest, the only reason I said it was because I was going to play the invitational tournament at Wimbledon. It would have been weird to not be officially retired and play in that. It gave me a reason to get it out there, which I feel was much needed.
I can now be much more open and positive about how things ended. It is weird to be retired at 28, but it is what it is”.
Robson on the pathway to reaching the top
Emma Raducanu finished her A-levels just a few months before her stunning run to the US Open title.
Now, young players are being developed in more areas and Robson is happy to see that being the case. “There used to be one pathway that you can do it, but now there are many, many ways,” Robson added. “We saw Emma finishing her A-levels and that was really important to her.
Whereas before it was all about performance, performance, performance. Now we are developing a much more rounded athlete. So being great at 13 doesn’t matter as much any more as long as they are training hard and working on the right things, you might not make it until your mid-20s. As long as you get there, it is all good”.
