Laura Robson interview

 

Originally published on: 27/07/12 00:00

Who got you into tennis?
All my family played. They played family doubles and I’m the fifth person so I had to pick up balls all the time. So they’d finally let me play if I was really good and picked up all the balls.

Did you play any other sports growing up?
I did quite a few other sports at school but just for fun really. I did ballet quite a lot. It doesn’t look like it now but I was actually okay!

What do you love most about tennis?
I love how competitive it is. I love being able to rip balls as hard as I can and have them go in sometimes.

What do you want to achieve by the end of the year?
I haven’t really thought about it yet. You know, for the moment I just want to stay injury free, that’s the main goal.

What’s the best match you’ve ever played?
Ooofff, I don’t know. There are a few that I won but for me I thought I played really well at Fed Cup against Sofia Arvidsson [Robson lost a tight 3-set match in the promotion play-off]. Just the whole atmosphere there in Fed Cup, you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for your country. That was one of the best matches for me.

If you could play one match again what would it be? And what would you do differently?
Sofia Arvidsson. And I would win!

You got to spend some time with Judy Murray on Fed Cup duty. What did you learn from her?
Well, she’s very into tactics and video analysis so we’ve been doing a lot of that and I've been continuing that in the tournaments recently. I think it’s really helpful.

Describe the worst journey of your tennis career?
At an under-14 tournament we had a nine-hour bus journey from Paris to Holland. We went for a three-seater right at the back, which was right next to the toilet. At first it was fine and then someone came back and was in there for a good 20 minutes and it got so bad that they had to stop the bus and empty out the toilet because even the driver was getting gassed! It was awful! I can still remember the smell. Our coach was trying to play it cool and act as though he couldn’t smell it and then he got out of the bus and vomited!

Laura Robson is a global ambassador for Wilson Racquet Sports
 

To read the remainder of this interview, in which Robson goes on to talk about her admiration for Steffi Graf's sliced backhand, what annoys her in life and, erm, Fifty Shades of Grey, check out the August issue of tennishead magazine. Why not subscribe to the magazine, here. 

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