Sears quells expectations and asks for patience over Robson

Nigel Sears, the head of women’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, was nonetheless delighted that Robson managed to win nine games against the Wimbledon title favourite.

The 17-year-old achieved her first senior Wimbledon singles success when she knocked out Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the first round.

But the 2008 girls’ champion remains a work in progress rather than a fully developed player: outside the top 200, still making too many elementary errors and perhaps still growing.

She stands 5ft 11ins, five inches taller than she was 12 months ago, and is without a permanent coach after parting company the week before last with Frenchman Patrick Mouratoglou, at whose Paris base she regularly trained.

Helping to identify the ideal support team for Robson is among Sears’s tasks, and whoever does take on coaching duties will be handling a phenomenal talent, but not yet a fully realised main tour player.

“We need to be patient with Laura because there is a lot of development to do,” Sears said.

“She has great promise but there’s a lot of work to do.

“She knows what she needs to work on.”

Taking on a player of former champion Sharapova’s standing on a major Wimbledon show court amounts to great experience, even if Robson did lose 6-7 (4/7) 3-6.

“I’m sure she’ll take a lot from that match, a huge boost to her confidence,” Sears said.

Sears, a former coach of Daniela Hantuchova, will look to work with Robson’s future team, and says it is key to “pinpoint areas” for improvement and concentrate on setting “realistic goals”.

“We need to relate things to tour standards,” Sears said.

Robson’s defeat came half an hour after Elena Baltacha, the British No 1, was beaten in three sets on Court 18 by No 20 seed Peng Shuai. They were the last British women standing in the draw.

“I think the performances themselves were good and we can’t complain about either performance,” Sears said.

“I thought Bally at 4-2 with a break in the final set came close to pulling it off.

“With Laura it was a challenge against Maria and she dealt with it very impressively. But at the end of the day it’s still two second-round defeats. You don’t want to get too carried away.”

Baltacha, now aged 27, has been at or around the top of the women’s game in Britain for the last decade, with illness and injury arguably preventing her making the best of her career.

She is pushing for a top-50 ranking now though, and serving as inspiration for the emerging generation of players, headed by Robson and Heather Watson.

“I’d put ‘Bally’ [Baltacha] and Anne Keothavong in the same bracket,” Sears said. “Both have been top 50.

“It’s great for young girls like Laura and Heather to have players like them around.”