Laura Robson will not play a tournament the rest of the season. The Brit who has been struggling to come back to form since her wrist injury, has announced via her management team, that she will not play again this year.
Relapse?
The Brit has suffered the worst case scenario which would be a relapse of the left wrist injury that made her miss most of the last two tennis seasons, causing her ranking to drop from inside the top 60 down to 547. Unlike Juan Martin del Potro, Robson took her time to try and come back from the original injury, the Argentine however is thought to have rushed back to soon and had the injury reoccur forcing him to take another break from the circuit to recover. It is believed that the Brit has been suffering from a few niggles here and there inclduing some difficulty with her right wrist, which usually provides the snap on her two-handed backhand.
Training
According to the Brit's agents at IMG, Robson's team has decided "it’s most effective for her to spend the rest of the year focused on fitness and training rather than travelling to tournaments." The Brit does not have any points to defend due to missing almost the entire 2014 season so will not lose anything by taking the time to concentrate on getting back to fitness fully before the Australian Open again next year. Robson could use a protected ranking (58) to enter the Australian Open, but without match fitness, this could be another early exit.
Lack of matches
Since June, Robson has only played 21 matches, 11 of those singles. The first was of course the bagel and breadstick defeat in the first match back. Going into the Australian Open with very little match practice could be a major issue for the Brit as she will try once again to come back from the injury suffered. Confidence will be another issue going into a Grand Slam with no matches under her belt is bound to be an issue. Winning brings confidence and lack of victories will always give that shade of doubt in the mind.
Lower-tier
The Brit had planned to play on the lower tier of the WTA with events in Monterrey on her list. Robson defeated a player ranked outside the top 1000 before losing to world number 309 Chieh-Yu Hsu. After this loss, the Brit again disappeared from the circuit which was of course worrying for the supporters of Robson. Perhaps the Brit should concentrate on the lower tier rather than the first Slam of the year. This is where a lot of the tour grinders can gain momentum and confidence through wins. Johanna Konta is well aware of this, having just progressed up to the top 50 after winning 10 matches in Canada before progressing to the fourth round of the US Open.