Watson reduced to tears as she roars to victory

Heather Watson opened up on the struggles of the last couple of years that led to her outpouring of emotion on Wimbledon’s Court One.

The British number four broke down in tears during her on-court interview following a 6-7 (7) 7-5 6-2 win over Tamara Korpatsch in a match that was carried over from Monday night.

Watson, 30, revealed that a combination of her poor results and the coronavirus pandemic had left her feeling low, which made a red-letter day like this so special.

The win also allowed her to exorcise the Court One ghosts of last year when she squandered match points to lose to Kristie Ahn in the first round.

She said: “The last few years for me personally have been tough. I’ve had my ups and downs – mostly downs – like so many people have with the pandemic and stuff.

“I would just say the battles with that, the isolation. I’m such a people person, very outgoing person. Being with friends and family, being social, is what fulfils me in life.

“So, I guess I missed that. Then it was just impossible to find joy on the tennis court with no fans. Being able to play my first match on Court One was really special.

“But not just that, with my tennis as a whole. The person I am, I’m a fighter. Also for my game, I’m the type of player that needs to put in a lot of work to play good tennis, a lot of hours on the court, a lot of hours in the gym.

“Just not being happy with my ranking, the way I’m playing. I expect more of myself. I think tennis players as a whole always do. But I felt like the last few years I’ve been underachieving.

“I think it was just a build-up of that, as well, just how much I’ve been putting in and not getting any reward.

“So, you know, after my match here last year on Court One, that was an alltime low for me.

“Coming back, I was so happy I could change the outcome and narrative this year.”

British wild card Ryan Peniston is still pinching himself after making his belated Wimbledon debut.

The 26-year-old from Southend, a virtual unknown until his run to the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club last month, beat Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen 6-4 6-3 6-2 on a packed Court 12 for a maiden grand slam win.

He said: “To be honest, I was chatting with my coach, Mark Taylor, yesterday and I was kind of saying I’m waiting for someone to pinch me and wake up back in May.

“I’m just loving every second of it, to be honest.”

Peniston is a selfconfessed late bloomer after overcoming a rare cancer as a baby which affected his growth as a teenager.

“I didn’t start growing until I was 15 or 16,” he added. “I was always about a foot smaller than all my peers.

“They all were growing and getting bigger serves and everything. I was struggling just trying to run around and get the balls.

“It made me definitely tougher as a player and a person I think. Yeah, it’s a blessing in disguise really.”

An impressive defensive performance saw lefthander Peniston register just 18 unforced errors to Laaksonen’s 44, while he secured six service breaks including one in the opening game.

The players exchanged breaks early in the third set before Peniston wrapped up victory with a further two breaks to book a meeting with American Steve Johnson, ranked 93 in the world.

Wild card Alastair Gray pulled off a remarkable straight-sets victory on his grand slam singles debut to reach the second round at Wimbledon.

Gray, ranked 288 in the world, saw off former Wimbledon boys’ singles champion Tseng Chun-hsin 6-3 6-3 7-6 (3) with a composed display on Court 14.

The 24-year-old from Twickenham, who attended the same US college as British No 1 Cameron Norrie, took the third set on a tie-break to potentially set up a clash with 11th seed Taylor Fritz in the next round.

Gray, the second lowestranked player in the men’s draw, had won ITF World Tennis Tour events in Shrewsbury and Glasgow this year but had never played above Challenger Tour level.

Facing him was the world number 95 who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in the 2018 boys’ final and was also making his first appearance in the main draw.

But it was Gray who was celebrating a career-best victory.

Draper hit a significant milestone at Wimbledon with what appears likely to be the first of many grand slam victories.

He drew another in-form player in Belgian Zizou Bergs, champion at the recent second-tier Challenger tournament in Ilkley, but Draper fought off three set points in the third set to claim a 6-4 6-4 7-6 (4) victory on Court 12.

Heather Watson overcame Tamara Korpatsch yesterday.