Womens British Tennis on the Rise

British Tennis celebrated a great weekend with Heather Watson winning the first singles title of her career and the first WTA title by a female British player since Sara Gomer won in Aptos in 1988.
 
Watson defeated Chang Kai-Chen of Taipei in 3 hours 11 minutes of tense and intense tennis with both players going for their first title.  Watson took the match on a third set tiebreak after serving for the 2nd set and saving match points in the 3rd.  Not only did Watson win her first singles title, she also reached the doubles final partnering Kimiko Date Krum but lost to the US pair Spears/Kops-Jones.

However, this has not been the only success for Heather Watson this year.  Earlier this summer, Watson teamed up with Marina Erakovic to win her first WTA doubles title in Los Angeles.  Watson also reached the 3rd round of Wimbledon, the first player to do so since Elena Baltacha in 2004
 
Meanwhile, Laura Robson has also had an excellent summer.  Robson did lose a tight 3 set match in the 1st round of Wimbledon to Francesca Schiavone but bounced back well to reach the semifinal of the clay court tournament in Palermo.  In Palermo, Robson beat players of the calibre of Roberta Vinci before losing out to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová. Robson then went on to achieve a silver medal with Andy Murray in the mixed doubles event at the Olympics.  
 
In the US Open, Robson made an even bigger name for herself by getting to the 4th round of the event.  In the 2nd round of the Open, Robson sent Kim Clijsters packing into a second retirement and beat Na Li in a tough 3rd round encounter.  In the 4th round, Robson had opportunities but defending champion Sam Stosur had too much experience.

Two weeks later, Robson reached her first career final at the Guangzhou Open but lost a tense 3 set match to Hsieh Su-Wei.  Robson had opportunities to win after saving match points in the 2nd, but blew at 3-0 lead in the 3rd set.  
 
This is the injection womens British tennis has been looking for, for years decades even.  To have two players of a similar age challenging each other and pushing each other up the rankings.  Watson was the first to reach British number 1 in July after her first doubles title reaching 71 in the world.  Then Robson’s good run at the US Open and final in Guangzhou propelled her to move ahead as British number 1and 52 in the world.  Now Watson has overtaken Robson again to finish her year ranked 50 in singles and 52 in doubles.

With both players at the start of their careers and determined to do well, I expect a further rise up the rankings over the next couple of years and challenge for bigger titles.  At the highest level, sport is all about confidence – they have trained for years and ability wise there is not much difference between a player ranked 100 and a player in the top 10.  
 
Sport is often in the mind and is about a player’s ability to learn from defeats and wanting to maintain fitness and improve physically, mentally and tactically.  If you think this is far-fetched, look at the rise of Angelique Kerber who jumped from 100 to number 6 in 12 months with a change in approach.  

Heather Watson and Laura Robson bring something different to the table and complement each other well.  They have different physiques; Laura Robson is a tall lefty who has adapted a game similar to Petra Kvitova in terms of shotmaking and movement.  Robson plays a big game and wants to dominate opponents if possible.  
 
Watson has a slighter physique and relies on quickness of feet and retrieves really well but is also trying to adapt a more aggressive game, in the spirit of a Justine Henin; combining defensive qualities with the courage to go for her shots and serve more often. 
 
Despite the excitement of seeing two young British players do so well, we must not carried away as yet and expect a challenge for major titles.  That might yet happen in future but for now the priority must be to keep improving, moving up the rankings and win more titles.  There is no reason to believe Heather Watson and Laura Robson cannot become top 10 players and be in contention for big titles in future.  2013 should prove to be very exciting.

Comments

  1. You're wise to be cautious, Laurie, as players burn out so quickly these days. Both players need to be well coached and spared the grind of playing in unnecessary tournaments all over the globe. They should choose where and how often they play wisely. They need to make another leap to make the Top 10 and to be contenders for a grand slam. Hopefully they can move up a gear to be genuine contenders at the highest level

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carlos Alcaraz Serve – The Missing Link To Greatness

Previewing The 2024 WTA Season

Iga Swiatek - Back to Business