After 17 months of patient rehabilitation and several false starts Laura Robson will be back on a tennis court on Saturday, hoping her wrist problems and a more recent hamstring scare do not trouble her in trying to qualify for the main draw at Eastbourne.
The outgoing Londoner has kept a surprisingly low profile since making her debut in the BBC commentary box at Wimbledon last year and her agents, IMG, have been reluctant to allow her to talk to the media.
A single paragraph buried in a press release from the tournament sponsors Aegon said only: “I am looking forward to making my return to the tour and I am excited to compete in front of the great Eastbourne fans again.”
Andy Murray, however, had more to say on his friend’s comeback and, having also had to deal with a wrist injury early in his career, shed light on how she might cope on her comeback.
“I’d imagine it would be very tough for a number of reasons,” he said at Queen’s. “Obviously playing at the elite level of any sport is hard at the best of times but, having not played for 17 months, she’s going to be extremely rusty, probably lacking confidence in movement, body.
“There is a lot of mental sort of baggage that she will have to deal with when she comes back. I don’t know if she works with someone on that front but, if she can get over that hurdle and trust her body – which is not going to come overnight – it’s going to take some time and some matches.
“She’s an unbelievably talented woman. I have known her since she was about 14, 15, and she has a lot of potential. She trains hard, surrounds herself with the right people and does all the right things. She can have a fantastic career, I’m sure, but it’s going to take time for her to come back from this. If somehow she does do it quickly, that would be awesome but I wouldn’t expect that.”
Robson has not played since the 2014 Australian Open and postponed several planned comebacks in the United States and, most recently, the French Open.
