EXCLUSIVE: Robson sacks coach on eve of Wimbledon after tough season

By MIKE DICKSON, SPORTS WRITER
Updated: 02:22 EST, 15 June 2011

British starlet Laura Robson has dismissed her coach Patrick Mouratoglou less than a week before Wimbledon.

The 17-year-old former junior champion fired the 41-year-old Frenchman, a well-known figure within the game, in the latest development in what has been a tough season for her so far.

The pair split after her first-round defeat at the Unicef Open in Holland on Monday, when she lost to Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja, serving 13 double faults in the process.

Downward spiral: Laura Robson has struggled this year and has now sacked her coach

Robson’s decision has major implications for her career, as for years she has trained mainly at her coach’s famous academy near Paris.

Not much has gone to plan for the left-handed Londoner since last year’s Wimbledon, when she gave then world No 4 Jelena Jankovic a scare on her Centre Court debut.

Robson has been dogged by injuries and held back by age restrictions on how many tournaments she can play.

A recent late growth spurt has taken Robson to nearly six feet, and the physical problems associated with that — most recently knee swelling — have made it hard to implement her full training programme.

Rising star: Robson shot to prominence when she won the 2008 girl's title at Wimbledon

In the past 12 months she has played only 12 tournaments, and despite glimpses of unquestioned potential, her ranking is stuck at a modest 257, while friend and rival Heather Watson has reached the world’s top 100.

Robson only turned to Mouratoglou after splitting from long-time coach Martijn Bok, who helped guide her to the 2008 Wimbledon junior title, following last year’s US Open. The Frenchman has other players he looks after, which is unlikely to have helped the situation. Given her promise, Robson is unlikely to be short of fresh offers.