Laura has got herself into what will surely be an incredibly challenging first round match against the current world number 33 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. The 26 year old is unseeded but has been ranked as high as no. 5 in the past, and has reached the quarter finals of Wimbledon before.
Maria Sharapova has urged Laura not to expect too much from her first outing in the senior event and use it to gain valuable experience for the future — which is sure to be bright for the youngster.

Wimbeldon begins on Monday, and we’ll update you when the schedule of play is released so we can give you the time of Laura’s match. What do you think Laura’s chances are in this match? Let us know in the comments.

A number of high profile women tennis stars have been offering their thoughts regarding Laura Robson’s wildcard entry to the ladies singles draw at Wimbledon next week. Laura herself knows there is going to be a lot of pressure, and has said she’ll “just have to deal with it”.

Ana Ivanovic, currently ranked 8th in the world was the first to comment on Laura, with an interview during the launch of EA Sports’ Grand Slam Tennis game. She warns that

‘There’s really not much friendship between the girls on tour,’ Ana tells me on a sunny afternoon in Rome, where she is playing in the Italian Open. ‘There’s so much rivalry and jealousy, so everyone just hangs out in their own camp. In the locker room and players’ lounge you can feel the jealousy.

‘It’s a shame, because it would be so nice if we could catch up over dinner or go shopping. But, sadly, I have no close friends on the tour.’

Ana goes on to mention Laura directly when talking about the situation with tennis in Britain.

One British player who, Ana feels, just might have the requisite ‘fighting spirit’ is 15-year-old Laura Robson, last year’s Wimbledon girls’ champion. ‘I know Laura,’ she smiles. ‘She’s great. I’ve seen her play and I really think she has potential. She’s very mature for her age and I think she can make it. She just needs to keep working hard and gaining experience.’

One major issue for players like Laura, though, is burnout, warns Ana, who, having turned pro a few months before her 16th birthday, knows a thing or two about it. ‘There’s so much pressure on young players. Often it becomes overwhelming and they can’t handle it. I’ve really struggled with that, because I’m very intense and a perfectionist. Finding a balance is hard.

You can read more on this very interesting piece over at Daily Star and also the Daily Mail.

Maria Sharapova had this to say about Laura:

“It is a great place to start. There comes a time when you must play on the big stage. Laura’s win at Wimbledon in the girls’ tournament last year will really help her this time around. It’ll give her a special excitement coming back and she will be able to cherish every single moment.”

And finally Martina Navratilova has said in an interview with the BBC that Laura is ready for the big stage. You can watch a short video clip here.

First of all I’d like to point out we’re sorry for the downtime we suffered last week. This was a problem with our web host and completely out of our hands, luckily we didn’t lose any data though, so we’re back up and running 100% now.

As you no doubt must have heard by now, Laura Robson was given a wildcard into the ladies singles at Wimbledon – she’ll be competing with the best of the best. Laura will actually become the youngest ever Briton to play at Wimbledon.

Obviously a massive grand slam like Wimbledon requires good preperations, and you may be aware of a few exhibition matches Laura has played recently at the Nottingham Masters. In three matches she played against Ukrainian Olga Savchuk (who is 6 years older than her) she lost 2-1. Laura was beaten in the first match, but levelled the score in the second match winning  7-5, 1-6, 17-15 after a super tie-breaker. The third and final match ended up 6-4 6-4 to the Ukrainian.

Tim Henman and Laura Robson have teamed up with Robinsons, the official still soft drinks sponsor since 1935 to create a webcast to encourage people to start enjoying a bit of tennis this summer!

Packed with tips, tricks, advice and a whole load of games for families to enjoy during the championship starting at the end of June.

Tim says:

Our film will help you improve your tennis skills and give the whole family lots of tennis ideas, so you can not only sit and watch Wimbledon this year, but you can get out and play too. Whether you want to impress your friends by learning to juggle with tennis racquets, discover lots of new games for the garden or simply keep fit, our film is filled with fun family tennis ideas that you can enjoy all summer.

Head over to Robinsons website to see the video. Or watch below via YouTube:

Laura Robson and doubles partner Anna Orlik have been ‘defeated’ in their second round doubles match by walkover. Like Laura, Anna also lost her second round match today so it’s understandable why both players chose not to compete in this match.

Laura must now be looking forward to returning to her preferred grass and hard courts with Wimbledon the next big grand slam for her.

Laura’s opponent Sandra Zaniewska of Poland unfortunately got the better of her today, beating Laura 6-7 6-1 3-6. After a close first set Laura came back to thrash Zaniewska in the second, but the Pole recovered to clinch victory in the last set.

Laura isn’t completely out though, she does still have her second round doubles match to play, so let’s hope she fares better in that. We’ll keep you updated on the result of that when the match finishes.

On top of all the tennis, Laura also has her GCSE’s to take! She has even said that if she does end up progressing through the doubles tournament there’s a British school in Paris that she’ll be able to take some of her exams at. Sounds like she’s got what could be a very busy and stressful week ahead of her.

Laura Robson and doubles partner Anna Orlik are through to the second round of the French Open Junior Doubles. They beat Alexandra Krunic of Serbia and Sandra Zaniewska of Poland (who Laura will face in her next singles match!) 6-4 7-6 0-1 – after one set each there was a match tie break (to 10 points) which they comfortably won 10-2. This is the first time I and I’m sure many of you have actually seen this in effect, it is apparently a rule change brought in just this season to junior doubles matches. Either way, after a hard days work Laura is through to the second round of both the singles and doubles tournaments, so let’s hope she can get rested up well enough to continue on through the Open. If you wish you can see the match stats for this match.

Laura will be facing Sandra Zaniewska again in the second round of the singles, while in the doubles Laura and Anna will be up against number 7 seeds Beatrice Capra and Lauren Embree, both from the USA.

Finally, since this is a grand slam there are actually professional photographers present which for us means more pictures, 8 new images have been added to our gallery.

After losing to Sloane Stephens, who later went on to win the tournament in Milan last week, Laura will be happy to start a new tournament today, and that is no less than the French Open Juniors.

Laura, who is once again seeded number 1 starts her campaign facing Karina Pimkina of Russia later today. We’ll keep you updated with the status of her progress through the competition, all the results will be right here on LRF.

UPDATE: Well, Laura is safely through to the second round, though she did cause us a bit of scare early on, losing the first set 6-2. She managed to bounce back though, winning the next two sets 6-3 6-3 to secure her place in the next round. As you can see from the match summary, all in all it was a pretty even game, but Laura obviously had the extra spark to finish the game off.

Just another quick update on Laura’s progress in the 50th Trofeo Bonfiglio 2009 in Milan, Italy this week. As you know, Laura won her first round match against Danish opponent Malou Ejdesgaard of Denmark. She also won her second and third round matches to get through to the quarter finals, beating Julia Mayr of Italy 6-3 7-6(5) and then Yana Buchina of Russia 6-3 1-6 6-4.

Laura is seeded number 1 for this tournament, and will now face Sloane Stephens of the USA for a place in the semis.

Laura has got off to a winning start after winning her first match after more than three months out of the game. Laura came from a set down to beat Danish opponent Malou Ejdesgaard 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a junior event in Milan, Italy.

After this event Laura is planning on competing in a women’s event on the ITF tour next week, followed by competing in the French Open Juniors.