WITH One Direction star Harry Styles and Prime Minister David Cameron among her growing army of fans, teenager Laura Robson is seen as “gold dust” for women’s tennis in Britain.
Robson, 19, became the most successful British woman at Wimbledon in 15 years after powering through to the second week of the prestigious tennis tournament but she lost her fourth-round match on Monday (July 1) to Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.
While Robson struggled to hold back tears leaving the court, campaigners for tennis and women’s sport praised her performance and the inspiration the British No. 1 gave female players.
The “Robson factor” has been credited for helping to double the number of young girls regularly competing in tennis in the past two years, according to the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) which is under pressure to increase participation in the sport.
“She is gold dust for women’s sport,” said Sue Tibbals, chief executive of the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation which aims to boost the number of women playing sport.
“She has captured the nation’s attention for her tennis and also because she is such a strong, inspiring woman. At 19 she has a great career ahead of her.”
Robson has won praise among tennis fans for her destructive forehand but she added 20,000 people to her 280,000 following on Twitter last week when heart-throb boy band member Styles declared himself to be her fan.
Cameron joined her fan bandwagon from Kazakhstan on Monday, tweeting her his best wishes ahead of her match while some of her fans lined up for two days to get tickets for Wimbledon on Monday for the chance to see her play.
“That’s unbelievable support. I’m so happy that they decided to come,” Robson told a news conference on Monday.
Robson was bitterly disappointed by her failure to get the win which would have made her the first British woman quarter-finalist since Jo Durie 29 years ago.
