Britain tunes in to new tennis sweetheart

SHE was born in Australia, her parents are Australian, her early childhood was spent in Singapore and her coach is Dutch. But Britain is claiming her.

Laura Robson may be just 14, but her victory in the junior Wimbledon singles championship has sparked massive interest and expectation in a nation starved of tennis success.

Before the weekend the public may not have heard of "Miss L Robson" (as the Wimbledon scoreboard formally termed her) but she is no stranger to SW19, nor her family to the sporting world.

Born on 21 January, 1994 in Melbourne, Laura lived her first 18 months in Australia before moving to Singapore with her family, where her father Andrew, an oil executive, was posted for four years.

She picked up a tennis racket at the age of three for a knockabout with her brother Nicholas, now a 16-year-old professional swimmer, and sister Emily, now 23. By the time she reached London at the age of six and a half, her talent was already obvious, said her mother, Kathy, herself a former professional basketball player for Australia.

By the age of nine Laura had been snapped up by agents Octagon, though more than ten other agents were eagerly watching one of her Wimbledon matches last week.

She entered the tournament two weeks ago ranked 36th in the world, a career record of 48 wins and 14 losses behind her. Now she's said to be worth up to £5 million a year if she continues her winning ways.

But both mother and daughter insist their feet are firmly on the ground. Laura and her family live just five minutes from the All-England Club and she is home-schooled to allow her to train for up to five hours a day.

The 5ft 7in left-hander is preparing for her GCSEs, learning to play The Simpsons theme on her saxophone, riding horses and cooking.

Yesterday, the BBC revealed that one million more people watched the final of the junior singles than saw Venus defeat sister Serena in the main draw. Bookmakers William Hill slashed the odds on Laura winning the seniors title at Wimbledon by 2020, from 50/1 to 10/1.

The figures are indicative of the desire, perhaps desperation, to see a home champion. Not since Annabel Croft took the junior title at the age of 18 in 1984 has a Brit walked from SW19 with a singles trophy.

Virginia Wade, the last British woman to win the senior title at Wimbledon, in 1977, said: "The media want to latch on to someone who shows great promise but this whole thing is what upsets the applecart with the British players.

"She's only 14 and has won junior Wimbledon, but I can see people thinking that if she gets into the main draw next year she's going to win it."

Carl Maes, the head of the women's game at the Lawn Tennis Association, is one of Laura's guides in the sport, along with Dutch coach Martijn Bok and Neil Sears, the father of Andy Murray's girlfriend, Kim.

Mr Maes said the coverage of Laura's win had been "scary". He added: "We do need to manage the expectations, and although we are desperate for a new star and this player is exceptional, there are no guarantees that in two years' time she will still be exceptional."

Publicist Max Clifford said Laura had the potential to make £500,000 this year alone thanks to her win, but

added: "The most important thing is protection, protection, protection. Don't try to build her up as the next tennis genius. She has made a wonderful start, but that's all it is.

"She's put herself centre stage of one of the biggest commercial sports stages in the world: tennis. In terms of potential, it's very, very early. She has a lot of learning to do."

Murray's mum wants to build academy for young hopefuls

JUDY Murray, the mother of Britain's number one player Andy Murray, wants to build her own Scottish tennis academy to help talent-spot stars of the future.

She has identified a site in Stirling that will consist of 12 tennis courts, including four indoor hard courts, four red clay courts, which can be covered in winter, four outdoor hard courts, four mini tennis courts and an artificial grass multi-purpose area.

Ms Murray first suggested the centre a year ago, in a project with Andy's former coach, Leon Smith, to be sited in Bridge of Allan, near Stirling University. The university already is the base for the Scottish Institute of Sport and offers indoor and clay courts at its Gannochy Tennis Centre.

The new centre would ideally be open in summer 2010, said Mrs Murray yesterday, and would be a "top quality coaching environment".

She said: "There's no question we have talented kids. All we need is a facility and the right people to drive it. There is a real shortage of tennis training facilities in Scotland. We will offer our own coaching programme for all ages and abilities.

"We will try to create a club atmosphere to encourage players to fulfil their potential as well as attract some of the best coaches in the country."

The announcement emerged just days after an official launch of what will become the UK's largest indoor tennis facility, to be based in East Kilbride, along with other sports facilities including a nine-hole golf course, opening in March 2009.