Nottingham

ROTHESAY OPEN NOTTINGHAM
LAURA
ROBSON
There is a familiar face returning to the Nottingham Tennis Centre to make
her debut in a new role at this year’s Rothesay Open Nottingham.
At the back end of 2022, the LTA announced
that former British No.1 and Olympic silver
medallist Laura Robson as the new Tournament
Director at the Rothesay Open Nottingham.
Just weeks out from the start of qualifying in
Nottingham, we spoke to Robson about her
memories of competing at the event, how
she’s enjoying her latest challenge and what
fans should look forward to this summer.
“It was so nice just to be able to pack up your
stuff at home and just drive to a tournament
– it’s the little things like that,” Robson said,
reflecting on her years playing at the WTA
event in Nottingham.
“I made the final in the doubles one year with
Joss Rae, who’s a really good friend of mine,
which was a really nice experience, but as
a whole Nottingham was always one of the
events I looked forward to.
“You’re excited for grass season, you want to
get going and as it’s such a quick transition
from the clay, you want to get out there as
much as possible.
“I always used to love it because you can get
into a routine at an event like Nottingham.
Players go to the same spot to get coffees,
you’ve got the town centre, there’s loads of
gym space, loads of courts and other facilities,
so it’s just an easy week as a player.”
Post-retirement, the 28-year-old is carving
out an impressive career in different areas of
the game. Not only is she the Tournament
Director at the Rothesay Open Nottingham,
but she’s also received huge plaudits for her
TV presenting role and she’s also taken on a
job in player relations at Wimbledon.
“I genuinely do enjoy all of my roles because
they are very different and they all enhance
one another,” she said.
“I feel I’m able to bring more to my TV role
because I know what goes into creating a
tournament and making it successful and
vice versa, I can add more to my role in player
relations at Wimbledon because I’m already
speaking to them at events TV side. Even though
it’s busy, I feel really positive about all three.”
Having played and competed at Nottingham
for many years, the Rothesay Open
Nottingham is an event that Robson is already
very familiar with – but as a Tournament
Director, the former British No.1 is finding
that there’s a whole different side to the game.
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Nottingham Tennis Centre | 12 - 18 June 2023