When is Laura Robson going to become a champion and top 10 player?

A

Amelie Mauresmo

Banned
I know I shouldn't be getting impatient, but I really want Laura Robson to blast her way into the WTA top 10 and win Wimbledon next year. Robson has the game I feel to dominate women's tennis, if only Laura would get more disciplined. Unlike Sloane Stephens, Laura has already reached a WTA tour final, she's beaten Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Venus Williams, Li Na, Kim Clijsters.

What the WTA doesn't need is more Eastern European players dominating the WTA Top 10. I know people are going to say women tennis is international now, but honestly, in North America, and probably in the UK, I don't think people know or care about Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, or Agnieszka Radwaska or Victoria Azarenka.


But Laura needs to stay healthy, I know she hates working out and finds it boring, but I hope Laura's new coach can help her to see, if she can get fit it will help her in the long run.

The WTA desperately needs a YOUNG WESTERN PLAYER to reach the top 10 and start winning grand slams.

Serena Williams has been carrying the WTA Tour FOREVER, but she's turning 32 in two weeks. The WTA desperately needs young WESTERN players to start winning slams again.
 
Amelie Mauresmo said:
I know I shouldn't be getting impatient, but I really want Laura Robson to blast her way into the WTA top 10 and win Wimbledon next year. Robson has the game I feel to dominate women's tennis, if only Laura would get more disciplined. Unlike Sloane Stephens, Laura has already reached a WTA tour final, she's beaten Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Venus Williams, Li Na, Kim Clijsters.
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I think Robson has growing potential, but take a look at the names and positions each are/were in:

Kvitova: Scatterbrained, one-major wonder. If she cannot blast balls, she's bugging her eyes, appearing frightened. A kid playing ping pong can take her out.

Clijsters: Old end-of-the-road Clijsters. At the time of the match (USO '12), Kim was ready to check out at any time--and that's what happened in December of that year.

Venus: Deep into the twilight of her career. She defeats herself more than it being the work of her opponents.

Radwanska: Incredibly overrated, so when lower ranked players defeat this allegedly "smart, all court" player (heh!), no one is surprised.

Li Na: Leans to self defeating actions from time to time--a great asset that can pop up at any time.

What the WTA doesn't need is more Eastern European players dominating the WTA Top 10. I know people are going to say women tennis is international now, but honestly, in North America, and probably in the UK, I don't think people know or care about Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, or Agnieszka Radwaska or Victoria Azarenka.
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National origin is irrelvant to all except someone with an agenda born of resentment.

Robson--to reiterate--has potential, but she needs to develop a sharp offensive game, and really needs a top physical trainer to back up what an offensive game demands of a player.
 
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Amelie Mauresmo said:
What the WTA doesn't need is more Eastern European players dominating the WTA Top 10. I know people are going to say women tennis is international now, but honestly, in North America, and probably in the UK, I don't think people know or care about Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, or Agnieszka Radwaska or Victoria Azarenka.
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Why does the WTA need that? Cricket and soccer don't need North American interest to be hugely successful money-making sports. Conversely, American football does not need European or Asian support to be successful.
 
Laura will be a future top 10 player (will rise to at least No 2 in the world) and will win slams.

She needs to work on her serve (i.e. its consistency), her physical conditioning, and her mental approach (she tends to be a bit lazy).
 
OP, you confuse me greatly. One day you are complaining about how biased the "Anglo media" is towards white, STRAIGHT, players and how tennis needs new blood. IIRC you were celebrating Djokovic as a great Eastern European champion and shoving it in the face of the Western media.

Now you are saying we need Western European/American players? What a change in tone!
 
President said:
OP, you confuse me greatly. One day you are complaining about how biased the "Anglo media" is towards white, STRAIGHT, players and how tennis needs new blood. IIRC you were celebrating Djokovic as a great Eastern European champion and shoving it in the face of the Western media.

Now you are saying we need Western European/American players? What a change in tone!
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No change in tone. OP is talking about marketability of the sport and is actually saying how bad it is that Western females are needed. You need to read between the lines.
 
ArliHawk said:
When:

1. Serena retires
2. She gets in better shape
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The first one, I don't it depends or matters whether or not Serena retires Laura can still be top 10. Next year, I hope Laura at least reaches the top 20 she really needs to get up there and get more consistent in her results.

Laura like Sloane Stephens they are strange, they seem to do well at the slams in the more pressure situations than the week to week WTA events.

2. Yes, Laura does need to get into better shape she's isn't fat or anything she's actually just has a bit of baby fat which is normal for a nineteen year old. However, Laura does need to get more serious about the training aspect, she needs to realize if she does the hard work off the court in the gym it will have an impact on the court.
 
Robson is great under the right conditions, i.e, when the ball is hit back to her no more than a yard either side. Should she have to move her feet? Point over.
 
I like Laura Robson. I met her when she was 16 in Melbourne. I thought she looked cute and had the game to be a good tennis player some day.
She's become a better player. I hope she wins something big. She's got the game but her movement is a bit laughable.

And btw I know she doesn't mean to but OP sounda kinda racist with her WESTERN WOMEN should rule tennis! I don't care whether they're from UK, US, Ukraine, Russia, China or India. I want to see good entertaining players regardless of their skin color and nationality.
 
happyloman said:
and kvitova had a bit of a tire when she won Wimbledon. she beat #2 or #3 maria didn't she?
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Never understood how a 6 foot athlete could be out of shape. Almost impressive to be on your feet, playing sport for most of the day but still eat enough to be in a surprlus.
 
If Serena and Aza pull out of AO,Laura has as good a chance as any. So soon, or never. Hopefully the former!
 
New peak period for players is approx. early to mid thirties so maybe in 15 years.
 
If you combine Bouchard and Robson, you could get something of a top 5 player. Each of them lacks what the other has.
 
Another thread where Amelie Mauresmo can't help herself thinking about either ethnicity or nationality. One wonders if this filter is at work in all endeavors in her life. When purchasing ice cream: "maybe I should balance the dark flavors with the light ones". Playing the roulette: "oh dear, I must make sure to bet on both red and black so as to not discriminate against Native and African American communities currently gambling in this casino". Etc.
 
Amelie Mauresmo said:
The WTA desperately needs a YOUNG WESTERN PLAYER to reach the top 10 and start winning grand slams.
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I could not believe I just read this? :shock:

Such a prejudice.

Why is a "WESTERN" player reaching top 10 and winning slams better for WTA that any other player? What is a definiton of a "WESTERN" player anyway.

Is Genie a WESTERN player?
Is Donna Vekic a WESTERN player? Or she does not qualify as "good for WTA" since she was born more than 10 degrees east of Greenwich.

Unbelievable what trash people post here.
Sorry to say, but OP is clearly a bigot. This thread should be deleted.

BTW why capital letters? Is that making it even more "WESTERN" than "western"?
 
Chico said:
I could not believe I just read this? :shock:

Such a prejudice.

Why is a "WESTERN" player reaching top 10 and winning slams better for WTA that any other player? What is a definiton of a "WESTERN" player anyway.

Is Genie a WESTERN player?
Is Donna Vekic a WESTERN player? Or she does not qualify as "good for WTA" since she was born more than 10 degrees east of Greenwich.

Unbelievable what trash people post here.
Sorry to say, but OP is clearly a bigot. This thread should be deleted.

BTW why capital letters? Is that making it even more "WESTERN" than "western"?
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Well, that's where OP sounded racist. Li Na's French Open victory was good for women's tennis. I think she got a lot of people in China and Asia to pay tennis some attention.
 
I have to disagree with the previous posts. I don't think Amelie Mauresmo is a bigot or a racist. Not in the sense of being "for" a certain ethnicity and "against" another. I just think she can't avoid rationalizing all subjects in a racial perspective.
 
granddog29 said:
She is way too slow around court. I see top 15 max for her.
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Agree about the movement. She's got the power, she just needs to work on her all-court game, especially her serve (she's double-faulting far too much at crucial stages). She needs to get herself a good coach, listen to his advice and, above all, work on her fitness. If she can do that, I don't see why she can't get into the top 10 soon.
 
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Movement is hard to just give yourself when you dont have it though no mater how hard you work. Look at Davenport, even becoming super fit she still moved no better than poor. A very fat Seles, who herself was not a remarkable natural athlete even at her peak, moved better than a very fit Davenport.

Davenport was a top 5 regular and won slams since she was possibly the best ball striker in womens tennis history. Robson is an outstanding ball striker, but not at that level, so it will be harder for her to compensate her lack of movement.
 
Amelie Mauresmo said:
I know I shouldn't be getting impatient, but I really want Laura Robson to blast her way into the WTA top 10 and win Wimbledon next year. Robson has the game I feel to dominate women's tennis, if only Laura would get more disciplined. Unlike Sloane Stephens, Laura has already reached a WTA tour final, she's beaten Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Venus Williams, Li Na, Kim Clijsters.
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Completely agree with this. I really like Robson's game, it's just her movement that's holding her back. She needs to start getting focused and hit up the gym, hard. Luckily though she is only 19 so there is plenty of time for her to step her game up and really make a run in the WTA rankings. Like you though, I am a little impatient and would like to see this happen soon.
 
Terrific groundies but until Robson improves her movement, erratic serve and shakey mental game, she's going nowhere.

Bouchard's overtaken her and deservedly so.

As the other poster mentioned, if you blended the two, you'd probably have a Top 10 player.

As for the OP's reference to Western player (and I'm not even sure what that is) what a load of narrow minded jingoistic crap. I'd rather have the most entertaining player rise to the top, not one based on nationality.

And BTW Errani is Italian not Eastern European.
 
Chico said:
I could not believe I just read this? :shock:

Such a prejudice.

Why is a "WESTERN" player reaching top 10 and winning slams better for WTA that any other player? What is a definiton of a "WESTERN" player anyway.

Is Genie a WESTERN player?
Is Donna Vekic a WESTERN player? Or she does not qualify as "good for WTA" since she was born more than 10 degrees east of Greenwich.

Unbelievable what trash people post here.
Sorry to say, but OP is clearly a bigot. This thread should be deleted.

BTW why capital letters? Is that making it even more "WESTERN" than "western"?
Click to expand...

Of course, Eugenie Bouchard is a WESTERN PLAYER she's Canadian. Serena Williams is 32 years of age, but she's old now and it is sad the WTA Tour's popularity is on the shoulders of an aging legend.

In order to BREATHE new life into the WTA to make women's tennis more exciting it NEEDS players who are from the WEST and who speak English WELL.

Some of those Eastern or Southern Europeans in the WTA Top 10 they aren't popular with the general public and their English is VERY POOR.

I know you want PC answers, but Serena Williams at the top of the WTA masks a SERIOUS problem there are currently no WESTERN PLAYERS coming up who have shown they can become grand slam champions.

Do you think the WTA Tour wants a Eastern European player who can't speak English well to be number one? It would be a public relations disaster.

The MONEY for tennis is in the WEST not the EAST. So yes, the WTA does need more WESTERN players such as Laura Robson, Eugenie Bouchard, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens to REALLY step it up and become champions.

Also, I like Li Na and what she's doing an Asian woman who is a grand slam champion is huge for women's tennis. But the problem with Li Na is she's not consistent, it would be NICE to see an Asian female tennis champion really become a GREAT champion and win multiple slams. Asia needs more young women to come up after Li Na.

One of the complaints about the WTA when Serena was injured a few years ago was about the boring European slamless number one players. Women's tennis was in a TERRIBLE place when losers like Caroline Wozniacki, Dinara Safina, and Jelena Jankovic were number one because those ladies did NOT WIN SLAMS.

So, yes, NOBODY wants to see the WTA top 10 be dominated by ten BORING Eastern European players. I don't think even the WTA wants that.

The WTA WANTS the tour at the top to be international, I just feel right now the top 10 needs to be MORE diverse. Too many Eastern Europeans and not enough Western or Asian players in the top 10.
 
granddog29 said:
Movement is hard to just give yourself when you dont have it though no mater how hard you work. Look at Davenport, even becoming super fit she still moved no better than poor. A very fat Seles, who herself was not a remarkable natural athlete even at her peak, moved better than a very fit Davenport.

Davenport was a top 5 regular and won slams since she was possibly the best ball striker in womens tennis history. Robson is an outstanding ball striker, but not at that level, so it will be harder for her to compensate her lack of movement.
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Davenport is certainly the cleanest ball striker in recent women's tennis history. Seles is the only one who's even close.

OTOH, Robson's movement isn't as bad as Davenport's. The worry that is that Robson will keep growing. I suppose she's probably stopped, but an extra couple of inches would make her movement even worse. Davenport was too tall. That's probably why she couldn't move well even after she lost weight and got in shape. It's certainly why Sharapova's movement has gone from so-so in her early years to major liability now. She finds it really hard to get down to low balls.
 
Seriously, what's up with all those words in all-caps?

Anyway, I disagree with your opinion that the WTA needs players who speaks English well. You're making it sound as if the US & UK is where all the money is.
Well, the real money is mainly in Asia where there is a huge growth potential. The WTA's (and ATP's) wet dream is to have a couple of top players from China and India, besides just Li Na. Whether they can speak English is really not that important.

The reason some top eastern European players are not popular has not so much to do with their linguistic ability, but everything with their on- and off-court personalities, which are quite bland for a lot of them, and to some extent with their looks (sad but true). One or both of these reasons are true for some you probably mean: Safina, Azarenka, Kvitova, Kuznetsova, Bartoli, Jankovic, Henin etc. all were either quite bland in terms of personality or looks, or both. Wozniacki has a great personality, but her on-court play is simply quite boring. Henin's play was exciting, which made her at lest somewhat popular, but not even near e.g. Clijsters' popularity.
Sharapova/Kournikova were very popular from the start, without having said a word. Ivanovic too. Clijsters for her sparkling personality. On the men's side, Nadal could barely speak English the first years but was tremendously popular due to his on-court personality and play.

I do agree that of course nobody wants tennis to be dominated by bland eastern europeans, but neither by bland americans. As with all sports, diversity is what makes a sport popular all over the world.

Amelie Mauresmo said:
The MONEY for tennis is in the WEST not the EAST. So yes, the WTA does need more WESTERN players such as Laura Robson, Eugenie Bouchard, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens to REALLY step it up and become champions.

Also, I like Li Na and what she's doing an Asian woman who is a grand slam champion is huge for women's tennis. But the problem with Li Na is she's not consistent, it would be NICE to see an Asian female tennis champion really become a GREAT champion and win multiple slams. Asia needs more young women to come up after Li Na.

One of the complaints about the WTA when Serena was injured a few years ago was about the boring European slamless number one players. Women's tennis was in a TERRIBLE place when losers like Caroline Wozniacki, Dinara Safina, and Jelena Jankovic were number one because those ladies did NOT WIN SLAMS.

So, yes, NOBODY wants to see the WTA top 10 be dominated by ten BORING Eastern European players. I don't think even the WTA wants that.

The WTA WANTS the tour at the top to be international, I just feel right now the top 10 needs to be MORE diverse. Too many Eastern Europeans and not enough Western or Asian players in the top 10.
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chicagodude said:
Seriously, what's up with all those words in all-caps?

Anyway, I disagree with your opinion that the WTA needs players who speaks English well. You're making it sound as if the US & UK is where all the money is.
Well, the real money is mainly in Asia where there is a huge growth potential. The WTA's (and ATP's) wet dream is to have a couple of top players from China and India, besides just Li Na. Whether they can speak English is really not that important.

The reason some top eastern European players are not popular has not so much to do with their linguistic ability, but everything with their on- and off-court personalities, which are quite bland for a lot of them, and to some extent with their looks (sad but true). One or both of these reasons are true for some you probably mean: Safina, Azarenka, Kvitova, Kuznetsova, Bartoli, Jankovic, Henin etc. all were either quite bland in terms of personality or looks, or both. Wozniacki has a great personality, but her on-court play is simply quite boring. Henin's play was exciting, which made her at lest somewhat popular, but not even near e.g. Clijsters' popularity.
Sharapova/Kournikova were very popular from the start, without having said a word. Ivanovic too. Clijsters for her sparkling personality. On the men's side, Nadal could barely speak English the first years but was tremendously popular due to his on-court personality and play.

I do agree that of course nobody wants tennis to be dominated by bland eastern europeans, but neither by bland americans. As with all sports, diversity is what makes a sport popular all over the world.
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I agree and disagree with your comment. I don't think Clijsters was as popular as Henin in Belgium actually and remember there is a cultural divide in Belgium too. Justine is from the French speaking part of Belgium of Wallonia and Clijsters is Flemish from the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

In their first careers Henin was the superior and MORE popular player she was 3-0 against Clijsters in slam finals Justine was better she won 7 slams to Clijsters 1 slam. People forget in Clijsters first career she was very mentally fragile and weak player.

Henin was the only one who CONSISTENTLY took it to the Williams Sisters. Henin had a 3-0 record against Serena in 2007 at the grand slams she was the ONLY woman who truly was Serena's rival who could knock her out at the slams.

Clijsters got somewhat popular in her second career because the media loved the story of the young mother coming back to the WTA to win slams. But in their first career I think the Belgian people respected Justine MORE than Kim.

I do agree that Safina, Jankovic, Bartoli aren't considered attractive for marketing reasons. But I think Justine's success enabled her to surpass that people respected her because she was a small woman yet she became a great champion.

The WTA definitely needs younger players to come up from the West or Asia. We don't need 10 boring Eastern European players dominating women's tennis NOBODY wants to see that.
 
gavna said:
NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.......see her floating around top 15 maybe just maybe if she gets truly focused she COULD be a solid #8-10

But winning SW19???????? That's drug induced fantasy.
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If Bartoli can win SW19, anyone in the top 20 can. You just need a mental midget to oust the favorite(s) in the first few rounds (where the pressure is not as intense as in the later rounds) and then defeat them when they naturally implode. The problem is this almost never happens. But when it does, Laura and a dozen other girls have a chance to win the tournament. And because we're not seeing anyone step up to fill Serena's shoes, I think it'll be wide open in the future.
 
Amelie Mauresmo said:
The WTA definitely needs younger players to come up from the West or Asia. We don't need 10 boring Eastern European players dominating women's tennis NOBODY wants to see that.
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It seems to me that you're a big fan of social engineering. You'd rather have what you say we need - which is an opinion, certainly not a fact - than what we actually have. To me, sports are interesting because of the (small amount of) unpredictability that they can still generate. But of course, since it's become a popularity contest, we tend to think in terms of "what will make the game survive and continue to flourish" rather than the risky idea that there's nothing we can do because results are results. In theory, sports should be like literature: its practice shouldn't be dependent on what the reader/spectator wants or expects. We shouldn't be able to know what the future of tennis is, it should evolve naturally and take us to unexpected places. If these Eastern European girls managed to reach the heights that they did, all credit to them. Who are we to say how tennis should be and what its future should look like?
 
I am from the Netherlands, and have been living for the past 5 years in the US.So, I am well aware of Belgium's divide, and also Henin and Clijsters' respective popularity in Europe and the US.
I can very confidently state that yes, Henin was more popular in Wallonia and in France, but she has never been very popular elsewhere.
Her playing style was very popular, yes, but her personality simply never caught on (when it comes to the public. Tennis commentators were always gushing). She always came across as somewhat stiff/cold/serious. This combined with her plain look made her difficult to market to the general public, despite her fantastic tennis.

Amelie Mauresmo said:
I agree and disagree with your comment. I don't think Clijsters was as popular as Henin in Belgium actually and remember there is a cultural divide in Belgium too. Justine is from the French speaking part of Belgium of Wallonia and Clijsters is Flemish from the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

The WTA definitely needs younger players to come up from the West or Asia. We don't need 10 boring Eastern European players dominating women's tennis NOBODY wants to see that.
Click to expand...
 
Amelie Mauresmo said:
I agree and disagree with your comment. I don't think Clijsters was as popular as Henin in Belgium actually and remember there is a cultural divide in Belgium too. Justine is from the French speaking part of Belgium of Wallonia and Clijsters is Flemish from the Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

In their first careers Henin was the superior and MORE popular player she was 3-0 against Clijsters in slam finals Justine was better she won 7 slams to Clijsters 1 slam. People forget in Clijsters first career she was very mentally fragile and weak player.

Henin was the only one who CONSISTENTLY took it to the Williams Sisters. Henin had a 3-0 record against Serena in 2007 at the grand slams she was the ONLY woman who truly was Serena's rival who could knock her out at the slams.

Clijsters got somewhat popular in her second career because the media loved the story of the young mother coming back to the WTA to win slams. But in their first career I think the Belgian people respected Justine MORE than Kim.

I do agree that Safina, Jankovic, Bartoli aren't considered attractive for marketing reasons. But I think Justine's success enabled her to surpass that people respected her because she was a small woman yet she became a great champion.

The WTA definitely needs younger players to come up from the West or Asia. We don't need 10 boring Eastern European players dominating women's tennis NOBODY wants to see that.
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I don't understand. Why are Eastern Europeans more boring than Asians/Westerners?
 
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