Laura Robson and Brits hit Bollettieri’s

BRADENTON, Fla. – It was good to see Great Britain’s Laura Robson hitting tennis balls, even if she wasn’t going full-out.

The 20-year-old has been out nearly a year, after undergoing left wrist surgery. She played one match in Hobart and another at the Australian Open, losing in the first round to Kirsten Flipkens. And that was it for 2014.

Her ranking is now down to No. 916, although that won’t matter much when she gets back, because she’ll be able to use a protected ranking that will probably be somewhere around No. 58, which is where it stood after the Australian Open.

If the recuperation periods of Juan Martin del Potro, who has now had surgery on both his wrists and has been out since last March after the procedure on his off-wrist, are any indication, this is just going to take some time.

Robson was definitely not giving it max effort on the wrist. We’d put it at slightly harder than a “light hit” – that being a relative term for a pro. We’re told she had a cast on the wrist as late as last week, so that she’s on the court at all is a positive.

Following her on court was Heather Watson. And a few courts over was young prospect Kyle Edmund – who notoriously was coached by Cana-Brit Greg Rusedski earlier this year, to dramatic effect.

We don’t know who the coach was on court with him in the pics below, but he was also a Brit.

Here are more pics of some of the players training at Bollettieri’s – including Max Mirnyi and host of Colombians, including Alejandro Falla and Alejandro Gonzalez.

The Colombians make the IMG Academy their off-season base every year. Earlier in the fall, top doubles team Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal were there, but they finished up their 2015 prep in South Africa (home of their coach, Jeff Coetzee).

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