Laura Robson said she and the Great British public are ‘in it together’ after she reached uncharted ground at the All England Club.
The 19-year-old is through to the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in her senior career after a straight sets win over Mariana Duque-Marino (6-4, 6-1).
She now faces Marina Erakovic tomorrow [Saturday] for a place in the last 16, and she is hoping her ever-growing fan base will back her all the way – although she admitted that not everyone is pushing in the same direction.
After her second round win under the centre court roof, Robson said: “The crowd under the roof is a lot louder, which is great for me as I love that noise.
“It's really exciting playing under the roof because you feel so much more of the atmosphere.
“I think I'm handling the pressure pretty well so far. I've had a fair few matches on big stadiums now where I've handled the crowd support perfectly fine.”
She added: “I love it when fans get involved. Sometimes they do a massive groan if I hit a double fault, but I'm groaning it as well - so we're just living it together.”
However, after Robson drew flattering advances from Harry of the boy band One Direction via Twitter, she revealed that not everyone cares about her or her tennis.
“I haven't been really going on Twitter but I actually got an email from Twitter, saying ‘Harry's followed you and messaged you’,” Robson said.
“I guess if you're that big time, then Twitter gets involved. But I looked in my replies, and there were thousands of these messages about me saying ‘Who is she?’ “I was wetting myself because it was so funny. I think I've gained 20,000 followers and they have no idea who I am.”
She added: “Yesterday I tweeted: ‘PS, Hi to the One Direction fans’. They corrected me, saying :We're not fans, we're Directioners’. It was hilarious.”
Robson’s third round opponent is ranked 71 in the world, although she is predominantly a doubles player, where she is ranked at 25.
And the last time the pair met on grass, at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham in June last year, Erakovic won over three sets.
Robson said: “Marina's got a big game, a huge serve, a good slice as well, which is pretty much a perfect game for grass. Her net game is on the ball as well.
“I know it's going to be a tough one. She's been doing really well in doubles lately as well. We'll have to see how it goes.”
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