LAURA ROBSON dropped herself in a painfully awkward blunder live on TV.
The former British tennis star, 31, is once again working for Sky Sports at the US Open in New York.
8
8
8
8
And the team – led by Gigi Salmon – turned their attention away from the tennis and on to an incident that happened during world No1 Aryna Sabalenka’s 6-3 7-6 victory over Leylah Fernandez on Friday.
During the middle of the night-session match, one fan got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend in the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
The romantic scenes – thankfully she said yes – were shown on the big screen inside the giant US Open venue.
So after the victory, as well as analysing the reigning champion’s performance, the Sky team featuring Salmon, Robson, Tim Henman and Martina Navratilova discussed the proposal.
But that was when Robson embarrassed herself.
Because she said: “I couldn’t think of anything worse, honestly.”
But little did the 2012 Olympic silver medalist realise that her colleague Navratilova had in fact popped the question to now-wife and Russian model Julia Lemigova on the very same court in 2014.
The 18-time Grand Slam winner, 68, replied: “I proposed to Julia on Ashe 11 years ago.”
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
And a distraught Robson joked: “I’ll just show myself out! I did not know that,” then pretended to hide behind Henman and run off the set as the broadcasters burst into laughter.
Tennis icon Navratilova then expanded on her own marriage proposal details.
As Robson listened and cringed at her own horror moment, the nine-time Wimbledon champ added: “It was during a match, they did a thing on the changeover, they showed us on the screen.
“I got down on my knee and Julia was like looking at me, I was like, ‘Can you please say something? My knees are killing me.’
“She finally said yes, it took her a while though. It was a surprise.”
She then quipped to help Robson out: “Well, it was in the day session. You were talking about the night session, big difference.”
Henman chipped in: “It’s quite hot in here all of a sudden, isn’t it, Laura?”
Robson tried to recover by replying: “And they’re still together.”
And after Navratilova gave her a warm hug to show her amusement at the whole scene, Robson desperately tried to change the subject by saying: “Wow, there’s a lot of tennis on today, isn’t there!”7
Sabalenka was asked about the proposal – and sent a message to her boyfriend.
The smiling Belarusian said: “I think it’s the first time that someone proposed during my match.
“It was a very sweet moment, but I was just trying not to start smiling, because it’s very cute and I believe they’re super happy right now.
“I was just trying to keep focusing on my game, and it was great moment, and as I said on court, I wish them happy marriage.
“I don’t want this kind of proposal. But I looked at my boyfriend. No pressure!”
8
8
8
8
