A standing ovation after a loss at Wimbledon for one of Britain's most talented female tennis players and that is seen as wrong by some people. Why? Simply because they don't embrace the British spirit that British fans possess.
Laura Robson lost yesterday to one of the most talented players in ladies tennis, Maria Sharapova, 7-6 6-3, straight sets. But being world no 254 who gave her a chance at all? So when she went 4-1 up in the first set fans were going wild around Wimbledon in the belief they may witness one of the biggest shocks in the history of Wimbledon. However she wasn't able to hold on and the experience of Maria Sharapova shone through and battled back to win a tie-break in the first set and then win the second set to progress.
So why after her loss have some pundits started questioning Laura Robson's ability and potential in the future? Comparisons were easily made with Maria Sharapova as she was 17 when she won Wimbledon but as you see with other great players in tennis, some people come into the sport amazing and take the tour by storm, and some progress year by year - namely the best player in tennis history, Roger Federer. Some may say being 22 winning your first grand slam is considered quite young, but if you look at him now you would have thought he would have always been that good, but he worked hard over the years to get to where he is now.
So the fact some critics have criticised the reaction of fans when Laura Robson lost to Maria Sharapova was somewhat shocking almost. Britain doesn't have a lot of high quality players in tennis so when Laura Robson won the junior championships at 14 a lot of weight was put on her shoulders, but a main reason why she won that junior championship was because of her strength that other juniors couldn't cope with. In 3 years she has definitely improved as you would expect, but clearly not the player YET to be challenging with the top 10, but as with Andy Murray she could become a late bloomer. Andy Murray suffered from fitness problems and lasting the full 5 sets, but he went away and worked on it and came back stronger to become a force to be reckoned with, Laura Robson will just need to show that same commitment, but as everyone can keep pointing out she is only 17. The Williams sisters are near on 30 and are on the top of the women's game still so one will look and say she has 13 years ahead of her to be making a name for herself in the game.
But as for the British fans, we are more than happy to see a talent that we believe in do well and cheer her on than down-hearten her spirits at such a young age by saying negative things about her game. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" may be something Laura Robson will or even has come to terms with and critics are part and parcel of any ones game but in Britain it seems more likely. The English football team, Andy Murray, English golfers, the English cricket team... the list is endless of teams/players in England that get slated after just one or two losses and not being world-beaters. Boos and bad press are never going to inspire a player/team to succeed in the sport because in theory they are entertainers for their fans and if they see people not enjoying them then why would they want to try and reverse that? They're all still human and are all extremely talented at their respective sport and all deserve to be where they are.
So that's why i chose to write this blog, to applaud the fans who gave Laura Robson a standing ovation, to be able to pick up their countryman after a hard-hitting loss and saluting her efforts. It was that gesture that typifies the British spirit and I for one am proud that I live in a country where we can be well-pleased with a British athletes efforts and look forward to cheering on much more losses in the future.
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