Laura lives the dream

SHE claimed she felt sick as she walked out on to No.1 Court and saw the crowd crammed in to cheer her but it didn't show. Laura Robson look as comfortable as ever in the spotlight. Apart from a slight blip in the second set, which saw the match move into a third and decisive set, the new hope for British tennis breezed to the junior title.

"C'mon Laura," hollered the crowd in unison as the girls stepped on to court to start the match. A week ago, few in the arena would have been able to pick the 14-year-old out a line-up but everyone knows her name these days. Even men's semi-finalist Marat Safin. The sassy teenager had identified him as her dream date for the Champions' Dinner and revealed that he had sent her a letter she had already memorised, saying he was sorry he couldn't oblige but wishing her all the best for the final. A Wimbledon final and instant fame.

With the scene set perfectly, the first three points went to plan but then she double faulted. Forget the fact she was 40-0 at the time, forget that it was still the first game of the first set, the second serve into the net was greeted by a cacophony of groans from the crowd. If she had been in any doubt before then as to what it meant to have the hopes of a nation strapped to her back, the penny will have dropped at that moment.

She didn't let it affect her, though. The next serve produced the point she needed to win the game and up went the giant roar. Just 200 yards away, the hallowed turf of Centre Court may have been hosting the women's final but, while this may have been the junior version, there's nothing like the whiff of British success to stir the emotions. This was where the real atmosphere was. With the Williams sisters there was the sense the spectators didn't really know who to get behind. There was no such dubiety in the girls' final.

Over the past few days, the teenager who lives just five minutes away from the SW19 courts has grown in stature and in profile, becoming the first British junior Wimbledon finalist since Annabel Croft, in 1984. That day Croft won and, as Robson swept to a 6-3 victory in the first set, the indication was the lass who was born in Melbourne and spent her early years in Singapore before moving to England was about to do the same. And with relative ease.

On her way to the final she had not lost a set and having already been shopping for a dress for the Champions' Dinner, she looked intent on ensuring Noppawan Lertcheewakarn would not deny her the opportunity to turn up as holder of the trophy. She led the second set 3-2 but with her Thai opponent fighting for survival, it seemed the enormity of the success she was aiming for began to wreak havoc with her mind. She lost the next four games.

It was always likely to be simply a blip. As she sat pondering the passing of the set at the changeover, she regained her focus. She wasn't about to wilt. That moment had passed. "I think I lost the second set because I started getting annoyed with myself so I sat down after the second set and I thought, 'well, if I want to win this, I've got to change my attitude'."

With the support more vocal, she returned to the action with renewed vigour and determination. Three successive breaks of Lertcheewakarn's serve followed and when, at 4-1, she was in danger of losing her own service game, she hit through it to hold on. Another break of serve and she was serving for the match. Once again she was 40-0 up when she double-faulted. This time, the crowd's anxieties were assuaged by her own reaction. There was a slight shake of the head but, more notably, there was a huge grin as she belted the next serve across the net to win the point and the championship. "My brother was telling me to drop to my knees, start dancing, do something, but on the spit I couldn't think of anything to do," she said of the moment her dream became reality. It had taken her one hour and 33 minutes to win the match but, in truth, she had won the hearts of a nation several days earlier.

Sparky and eloquent, she offers hope for the future. As she was presented with the trophy by Ann Jones, the 1969 Ladies champion, she looked a natural. Kissing the trophy, she swapped banter with the photographers and, just as she had patiently signed hundreds of autographs for fans after her semi-final, she posed happily to allow the crowd to capture their own snaps. "I had really, really good support. The noise was amazing when I lifted the trophy. The photographers were asking me to kiss it and I don't think that's going to be the best-looking picture but I don't mind."

But if that wasn't enough, there was one final nugget to leave British fans smiling. Talking about her hopes of being handed a wild card for the main draw next year, she was asked what she thought of the prospect of playing the five times winner Venus Williams. "I'll take her down!" she replied, with a chuckle.

Now there's something for the pair to discuss at the dinner tonight.