London: Tennis prodigy Laura Robson has a crush on retired Russian player Marat Safin, whom she once pretended to a journalist was her date to the junior Wimbledon dinner.
Sport | Tennis
Laura Robson: 'I'm known as the Gossip Queen'
Robson talks about dating, friendship and how she prefers staying in to partying
- By Keri Sutherland, Daily Mail
- Published: 00:00 May 31, 2010
- Image Credit: Rex Features
- Laura Robson of Britain says the stereotypical image of women in tennis is changing.
The 16 year old, who won the junior girls' Wimbledon title in 2008, said: "He's phenomenally good-looking. But he's old; He's 30."
Robson , who was born in Australia, but has lived in Britain since she was six, speaks about her career in the July edition of Vogue, which features her first photoshoot.
She insists there's no in-fighting amongst female competitors, whom she called "unbelievably strong women". But she acknowledged the stereotypical image of women in tennis is changing. "Now you've got Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic, so it's changing; everyone's doing photo shoots. It's more glamorous."
Although she adheres to a strict training regime, she also likes to relax and spend time with her best friend, Canadian player Eugenie Bouchard. She has a video stored in her Blackberry of them dancing in their underwear to a Miley Cyrus song, with Adidas pants on their heads.
She hit out at her female rivals who she says are making a "bad name for themselves" because they date so many men. Robson claims she prefers to go to bed early instead of having wild nights out. She dislikes drinking and hates smoking. She said: "Some of the tennis girls... they go with every guy and make such a bad name for themselves and you don't want to be known for stuff like that. You want to be more discreet. Yes there are moments when you speak to your old friends, and they're all going out to parties every weekend, and I'm stuck in Paris boring my brains out." But she added: "It's so much fun [here]. We all know each other so well. I'm known as the Gossip Queen, but I'm careful never to repeat a word."
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