WTA Future Stars - Tennis.com Article

korriban · Challenger level

WTA Future Stars - Tennis.com Article

indiana · Tennis legend

Indeed we shall !

Very interesting and seems pretty fair. Thanks korriban for that link.

As you no doubt know, while being aware of and sharing many folk's frustrations, I do think Laura will be top 10.

john · Top national player

Cheers, nice article.

It still gets to me though, that 5 or 6 years ago we had noone anywhere, and would have killed for one of our players to be even mentioned in the same article as a top future star, be seeded in grand slams, beat top 10 players, win multiple matches at Wimbledon, play on the main tour week in week out, yet now that we have that and in one so young, one who is universally recognised as a top 5 possibility to be the next big thing, grand slam winner, top 10 player etc. there are people who only want to find negatives.

Bizarre, are British tennis fans becoming spoiled with all the main tour success of Andy, Laura, Hev and soon hopefully Johanna and Dan

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I think that I've never doubted Laura's top 10 potential since the year she won Junior Wimby.

I've found her progress frustrating, initially with not being able to play many matches, then having injury after injury, and now with her gross inconsistency (UEs, DFs), movement, and just plain going to pot in matches she should easily win.

She seems to play well in GS's, when she's just lost of found a coach and when another British woman is doing well. I'm hoping that the fact that the other four teenagers mentioned here are now coming up and past her, (especially her friend Eugenie) she'll get her head in gear without the label of being 'top kid' and make some real progress that's commensurate with the raw natural talent she has. I was hoping that Sloane's rise would have done that, but it appears not as yet.

Spectator · All-time great

I'd agree with John that there can be a tendency in the UK to focus on what Ms Robson hasn't done/doesn't do, rather than her extraordinary success (did anyone notice that for some time she's been the highest-ranked tee...

) ... or, in the customary fashion of the tabloids, to build her up to the skies and then express bitter disappointment when she doesn't accomplish the highly unlikely. Tremendous accomplishments already, potential for more, lovely person, plenty of time, knows there are areas she needs to work on. Hope she can find someone to get her that extra little step further with service and movement.

TomTraubert · Futures level

last night i red all the comments too very intresting and some well made points that were new thoughts to me

v intresting to see how little the global folks discussed laura at all despite her being one of the original 5 in the peace

sloane genie and maddie got all the attention with halep and townsend strongly argued for inclusion over laura and picapower

genie most mentioned mebbe cos shed just played a great match with venus when the peace went up

laura really hardly got a look in tho

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

This article does highlight the lack of absolutely standout youngsters in the last few years, though this year Sloane has come closest to demonstrating the ability to be a future top player. Also, through reaching her one WTA final, Laura has come closer to a title than any of the girls in the article.

The more I watch tennis the less I feel able to predict future performances of young players. Instead of being a predictable natural progression, players tend to be at a similar level for period of time and make huge almost overnight progress (e.g. Laura in Summer 2012) at others. It could easily be the case that Laura stays around 30-40 in the world for a while and then suddenly something clicks and she becomes a top 20 player (or even top 10) quite quickly.

Spectator · All-time great

TomTraubert wrote:
last night i red all the comments too very intresting and some well made points that were new thoughts to me

v intresting to see how little the global folks discussed laura at all despite her being one of the original 5 in the peace

sloane genie and maddie got all the attention with halep and townsend strongly argued for inclusion over laura and picapower

genie most mentioned mebbe cos shed just played a great match with venus when the peace went up

laura really hardly got a look in tho

Not sure whether that's a result of "global" opinion, or the fact that tennis.com is a US website. Don't seriously think that many people globally would argue for Townsend over Robson at this point. Halep is a different story ... but of course she's also 22 (as of yesterday, according to the WTA website)

korriban · Challenger level

I was curious to have a look at the early career progress of Petra Kvitova, who many compare to Laura Robson.

.......because of their huge lefty games with potent serves (subject to yips and nervous DFs), enormous groundstrokes which can blow people off the court when on song, yet infuriating inconsistency with the potential for UE after UE, and questionable speed, footwork and athleticism. When they are good, they are irresistable, but when they are bad it can border on unwatchable. Robson vs Kvitova at this years Aussie Open was 3 sets of appallingly bad (yet somehow compelling) tennis.

Here's the big difference.

At the age of 19 (basically 4 years ago), Petra had won 7 ITF singles titles and 1 WTA singles title. She has since won another 10 WTA singles titles including Wimbledon and the WTA Finals. At the same age Laura has won a single $10k ITF as a 14 year old. My sense is that at the same age Petra was far less "heralded" than Laura despite the above. Sometimes tennis can be baffling.

steven · Tennis legend

korriban wrote:
I was curious to have a look at the early career progress of Petra Kvitova, who many compare to Laura Robson.
.......because of their huge lefty games with potent serves (subject to yips and nervous DFs), enormous groundstrokes which can blow people off the court when on song, yet infuriating inconsistency with the potential for UE after UE, and questionable speed, footwork and athleticism. When they are good, they are irresistable, but when they are bad it can border on unwatchable. Robson vs Kvitova at this years Aussie Open was 3 sets of appallingly bad (yet somehow compelling) tennis.
Here's the big difference.
At the age of 19 (basically 4 years ago), Petra had won 7 ITF singles titles and 1 WTA singles title. She has since won another 10 WTA singles titles including Wimbledon and the WTA Finals. At the same age Laura has won a single $10k ITF as a 14 year old. My sense is that at the same age Petra was far less "heralded" than Laura despite the above. Sometimes tennis can be baffling.

Petra is from central Europe, whereas Laura, Genie, Sloane, Taylor are from GB and North America. That's usually more than sufficient to explain huge differences in hype levels.