Back in 2013, Laura Robson was the rising star on the tour – the player that many expected to be one to watch out for over the coming decade. She shone brightly as the top female talent in Great Britain but had that all come crashing down when she suffered a wrist injury early in 2014, which caused a professional collapse and forced her to take well over a year on the sidelines. Now that she has returned to the tour, she will begin her Wimbledon campaign against Evgeniya Rodina, whom she has never faced previously on the professional tour.

The former British No. 1 was forced onto the sidelines in January with a left wrist injury and watched her hard work and ranking deteriorate whilst other competitors rose to prominence over the year. Having not played tennis since her first round loss to Kirsten Flipkens in the opening round of the Australian Open, Robson returned to court last week at the Eastbourne qualifying tournament, where she lost to one of the tour’s rising competitors Daria Gavrilova.

Robson reached a career-high of No. 27 on the tour and reached the fourth round of Wimbledon Championships, as well as the third rounds of the Australian Open the French Open and the U.S. Open. However, since her absence from the tour, she has dropped from No. 27 to No. 916.

“I know how well I’ve played and practiced. But obviously it doesn’t always translate to matches, as you must know. So my coach, my trainer, we’re all very patient. If I don’t play well, then it’s not the end of the world, because we all learn in tennis that there’s always next week, there’s always going to be another week for me, because I’m injury‑free, I think that’s the main thing. If it doesn’t work out after this tournament, I’m going to go play some challengers in America. It’s going to take a while. But, yeah, patience.”

World No. 101 Evgeniya Rodina has only played one match on grass so far this season, which was a loss to Alison Yan Uytvanck in the opening round of s-Hertogenbosch.

This marks the first time that Robson and Rodina will meet on the professional tour and is a puzzling match to determine the outcome for given Robson’s injury and gradual comeback.