| Saturday, 5 July 2008 Written by Michael Burke Laura Robson, the 14-year-old Briton, will remember this moment for the rest of her life. After an incredible final, she became a junior Wimbledon champion, the first from Britain in 24 years. For someone so young, claiming the girls’ winners’ trophy is a great achievement. Having displayed huge potential this fortnight and by winning the final on No.1 Court, she confidently talked to the press after the biggest match of her life – her defeat of third seed Noppawara Lertcheewakarn from Thailand 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. But with the world at her feet and a nation behind her, she is still struggling to find a date for the champion’s ball, and Marat Safin, her favourite male tennis player, has already turned her down. “He sent me a letter. I’ve memorised it. It says, ‘Sorry I can’t come to the ball, but good luck for your final tomorrow.’ Then he signed it. It was really nice,” she said. “I’m not sure who I’m going to take now that he’s out of the picture. It’s a bit disappointing actually. “Tomorrow I am getting ready for the ball, apparently I get put in a room with a rack full of dresses and then I get to pick one.” After Cinderella has been to the ball, Laura Robson will leave the grass courts of Wimbledon in search of her next challenge. But her historic win will surely be the catalyst for greater things to come.
Next week Robson will be swapping the green stuff for clay as she goes back to training, and catching up with her school work, at the new LTA National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
With the possibility of a wild-card entry to the main Wimbledon draw next year, could she dare to dream about lifting that title next year? “I can never stop improving, so I think I’m just going to keep practising the way I have and then I will keep improving,” she said. “If I do get a wild card, that should be an amazing experience, as well, coming from this year and how I’ve just won the juniors.” She joked about how she would like to take on Venus Williams next year and “take her down”, but after the adrenaline of winning the final wore off she became more realistic about her chances of winning the main event. “I wouldn’t say I’m all that confident [of winning the ladies’ singles]. But, yeah, one or two rounds would be nice.”
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