Calling it quits: Laura Robson has retired from tennis aged 28
(Picture: Getty Images for LTA)Laura Robson, the former British women’s No1, has announced her retirement from professional tennis.
The 2012 Olympic silver medalist and former Wimbledon junior champion has officially stepped away from the sport aged 28 after being plagued by persistent injury problems over recent years that have severely restricted her time on court.
After a 2014 operation on wrist problems that continued to prove troublesome, Robson first underwent hip surgery in 2018 and later saw comeback attempts sadly stalled as ongoing pain led to another procedure in December 2019.
She went under the knife once again in January 2021 having only returned to training the previous month, leaving her tennis future in real doubt.
In an interview with the BBC released on Monday morning, Robson said: “I went through every possibility of rehab and of surgery.
“I had another hip surgery and probably did the best rehab block of my life - I went to all the best specialists and had some incredible people that I was working with just to get me back on court - and then the second time I hit, I just knew. It feels weird to say out loud, but I’m done, I’m retired.
“I’ve sort of known that for a while because of what I was told by the doctors last year, but I think it just took me so long to say it to myself, which is why it took me so long to say it officially.”
Australian-born Robson, who moved to the UK from Singapore aged six, became one of British sport’s great new young hopes after winning the Wimbledon junior title aged just 14 in 2008 - the first home player to do so since Annabel Croft 24 years earlier.
She also memorably claimed Olympic silver on home soil at London 2012 alongside Andy Murray in the mixed doubles event, losing to Belarus' Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi in the gold medal match.
Robson made the fourth round of the US Open in 2012 - eliminating Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters and Li Na en route - and the last-16 at Wimbledon the following year, the first British woman to achieve the latter feat since 1998. Those were her best results in senior Grand Slam singles competition.
She reached a career-high WTA ranking of No27 in July 2013 and was also an Australian Open doubles quarter-finalist in 2010.
“I think I’m always going to have the feeling that I could have done more, unfortunately,” Robson said. “I feel like if I had just had another year or two of being healthy, I don’t know what I could have achieved.
“But I’m really proud of the Olympics, of playing Fed Cup - playing for your country in any way was always one of my favourite weeks of the year - and I think playing Wimbledon and the US Open the time that I did well, I will have those memories forever.”
