Laura Robson

Ian1314 · Lower Club Player

RE: Laura Robson

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Ian1314 wrote:
Really enjoying this thread and seeing all these names again; remembering the excitement when they won matches at Wimbledon or in preceding tournaments.
I think I remember Liz Jones beating Ros Fairbank at Brighton - could have been someone else though.

Yes you are correct enough about Liz Jones aged 17 qualifying at Brighton in 1981 and beating Ros Fairbank in the 1st round. She lost to Mima Jausovec in 3 sets in the 2nd round. Sue Barker won the tournament. That information is courtesy of John Dolan's Ultimate Guide to Women's Tennis 1968-1984.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Ian1314 wrote:
Really enjoying this thread and seeing all these names again; remembering the excitement when they won matches at Wimbledon or in preceding tournaments.
I think I remember Liz Jones beating Ros Fairbank at Brighton - could have been someone else though.
Yes you are correct enough about Liz Jones aged 17 qualifying at Brighton in 1981 and beating Ros Fairbank in the 1st round. She lost to Mima Jausovec in 3 sets in the 2nd round. Sue Barker won the tournament. That information is courtesy of John Dolan's Ultimate Guide to Women's Tennis 1968-1984.

I love some of these old books! Is it still in print or do you have an old copy, Rosamund?

Brighton was a great event - at that time, we had Brighton Womens (I recall BMW and Daihatsu as sponsors at points in time) followed closely by the Benson & Hedges at Wembley ( I lived in London around the late 80s, early 90s and went to Wembley many times, albeit towards the end. Had finals tickets for Chang v Forget, 1992? Drove around North Circular from Twickenham with my mate, rubbish traffic, got into the arena at 6-1 6-2 to Chang, he won 3rd set 6-2 (or similar) for a 3 sets win! Gutted! Missed it all!

We then had the WCT Doubles Masters event, at Olympia and then Royal Albert Hall, just in the new year. That was my favourite, what an event! Never saw it in London, but around 85/86 it moved to NEC in Birmingham for a couple of years and I went to the semis one year, saw Gunthardt and Taroczy (Swiss/Hungarian pair) beat Current and Denton in the semis. It was so warm, I fell asleep and missed half the match!

ROSAMUND · Futures level

ROSAMUND wrote:
Ian1314 wrote:
Really enjoying this thread and seeing all these names again; remembering the excitement when they won matches at Wimbledon or in preceding tournaments.
I think I remember Liz Jones beating Ros Fairbank at Brighton - could have been someone else though.
Yes you are correct enough about Liz Jones aged 17 qualifying at Brighton in 1981 and beating Ros Fairbank in the 1st round. She lost to Mima Jausovec in 3 sets in the 2nd round. Sue Barker won the tournament. That information is courtesy of John Dolan's Ultimate Guide to Women's Tennis 1968-1984.

I had a look to see what happened to Liz Jones and she has been a tennis coach for many years. She got a joint LTA coach of the year award in 2001.

Priesty · Challenger level

ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Ian1314 wrote:
Really enjoying this thread and seeing all these names again; remembering the excitement when they won matches at Wimbledon or in preceding tournaments.
I think I remember Liz Jones beating Ros Fairbank at Brighton - could have been someone else though.
Yes you are correct enough about Liz Jones aged 17 qualifying at Brighton in 1981 and beating Ros Fairbank in the 1st round. She lost to Mima Jausovec in 3 sets in the 2nd round. Sue Barker won the tournament. That information is courtesy of John Dolan's Ultimate Guide to Women's Tennis 1968-1984.
I had a look to see what happened to Liz Jones and she has been a tennis coach for many years. She got a joint LTA coach of the year award in 2001.

How come she didn't make it as a player? 1981 was just before I became interested in tennis.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Priesty wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Ian1314 wrote:
Really enjoying this thread and seeing all these names again; remembering the excitement when they won matches at Wimbledon or in preceding tournaments.
I think I remember Liz Jones beating Ros Fairbank at Brighton - could have been someone else though.
Yes you are correct enough about Liz Jones aged 17 qualifying at Brighton in 1981 and beating Ros Fairbank in the 1st round. She lost to Mima Jausovec in 3 sets in the 2nd round. Sue Barker won the tournament. That information is courtesy of John Dolan's Ultimate Guide to Women's Tennis 1968-1984.
I had a look to see what happened to Liz Jones and she has been a tennis coach for many years. She got a joint LTA coach of the year award in 2001.
How come she didn't make it as a player? 1981 was just before I became interested in tennis.

I think we need a thread for Whatever became of/Where are they now. The LTA's handbooks for 1980 to 1983 cover the Liz Jones story. At the age of 15 in 1979 she became the youngest winner of the British Junior Hard Court Championships since Betty Nuthall(1930 US Champion) in 1924. She was awarded a SAAB scholarship and was sent to America for special training with Harry Hopman. She also won the Junior Covered Court Championship in January 1980. However during the summer of 1980 she was suspended from international play by Sue Mappin because she seemed unable to make up her mind whether or not to take up the game full time. She then combined studies at Hammersmith College with extensive practice at Queen's. Her suspension was lifted by the November. At the end of 1981 she ranked No. 10 in GB ,her highlight being Brighton .At end of 1982 she still ranked 10 in GB. Described as volatile she did not make the progress expected of her. In a less competitive era she played in the first round of the 1982 French,Wimbledon and US (losing to Manuela Maleeva). Her 1982 WTA year end ranking was 182. That is where her career on the professional tour ended. I think it was her contemporary Amanda Brown who coined the Greatest player we never had comment.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Priesty wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Ian1314 wrote:
Really enjoying this thread and seeing all these names again; remembering the excitement when they won matches at Wimbledon or in preceding tournaments.
I think I remember Liz Jones beating Ros Fairbank at Brighton - could have been someone else though.
Yes you are correct enough about Liz Jones aged 17 qualifying at Brighton in 1981 and beating Ros Fairbank in the 1st round. She lost to Mima Jausovec in 3 sets in the 2nd round. Sue Barker won the tournament. That information is courtesy of John Dolan's Ultimate Guide to Women's Tennis 1968-1984.
I had a look to see what happened to Liz Jones and she has been a tennis coach for many years. She got a joint LTA coach of the year award in 2001.
How come she didn't make it as a player? 1981 was just before I became interested in tennis.
I think we need a thread for Whatever became of/Where are they now. [...]

Done - in the General tennis discussion forum.

dodrade · Satellite level

Not sure it was a good idea to go out into the snow on crutches.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Laura is commentating on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.Annie K is also commentating for the first 4 days.

the addict · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Laura is commentating on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.Annie K is also commentating for the first 4 days.

Laura appears to be commentating from her living room, judging by the pic on Instagram

ROSAMUND · Futures level

the addict wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Laura is commentating on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.Annie K is also commentating for the first 4 days.
Laura appears to be commentating from her living room, judging by the pic on Instagram

Wouldn't be surprising.Main commentator Gigi Salmon is based in Salford.

the addict · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
the addict wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Laura is commentating on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.Annie K is also commentating for the first 4 days.
Laura appears to be commentating from her living room, judging by the pic on Instagram
Wouldn't be surprising.Main commentator Gigi Salmon is based in Salford.

As is David Law

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Laura has been busy commentating on BBC Radio 5. She seems to be further enhanciing her career in that direction as she did the match previews at 7.55 which Russell Fuller usually does. .

dodrade · Satellite level

Back in the Gym this week.

Priesty · Challenger level

Bouncy has just reported in BBC commentary on Murray v Shapo that Laura is "considering her options as to whether she can come back".

Time will tell I suppose......