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.
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
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