Watson: My coach will shave his legs if I go on
Briton beats No18 seed and eyes second week Wild card aims to make Phillips pick up his razor
Heather Watson is fully aware that Wimbledon operates like a luxurious mirage far removed from the decidedly unglamorous reality of life on the tour. Yet after reaching the third round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over the No18 seed Anastasija Sevastova, she is determined to remain on its precious, precarious pedestal for as long as possible.
In the space of
12 months, the 25-year-old from Guernsey dropped from 55 in the rankings to outside the top 100, forcing her to play in some tournaments where water and towels were not available for competitors. Victories were equally hard to come by, at least in any great sequence. At one stage, she was playing without a coach before she approached Morgan Phillips and Colin Beecher at the start of the clay-court season.
Operating out of the Junior Tennis Coaching programme at Chiswick, the pair may lack the profile of a certain breed of super coaches and gurus, but they have restored Watson’s sometimes wandering focus. If there was not already enough incentive to reach the second week of a grand slam for the first time in her career, Phillips has promised to shave his legs if she gets past Victoria Azarenka, the former world No1 who is playing only her second tournament since giving birth to her son, Leo, in December.
“It’s been one of my goals for ever,” said Watson, a wild-card entry ranked 102. “I made those big goals years ago. Making second week of a slam would be huge for me. I haven’t done it before in singles. And if I do, my coach said he’d shave his head. But I said, ‘No, your girlfriend will kill you. You can shave your legs’.”
Speaking of the effect Phillips and Beecher have had on her recent resurgence, which included a semi-final appearance at Eastbourne, Watson said: “I haven’t had a coaching team for a while. I just am happy with that. I’m happy with them. Practices are going really well. I feel like I have structure and am enjoying it.
“I’ve been on the tour for a lot of years now. When I was younger, when a coach would come in, it would be more they’re the dominant one, tell me what to do, I’d just do it and listen. But now, you know, I’m experienced. I know my body. I know what I like, what I don’t like. So it’s kind of a bit of give-and-take.”
This is the third time that Watson has reached this stage at the All England Club in singles. Two years ago she was serving for the match against Serena Williams in a tie that seemed set to catapult her to fame and fortune. Things did not quite turn out that way. Consistency has proved elusive, as was the case against Sevastova.
Her performance in the first set was close to perfection. No unforced errors, just eight points conceded in a 19-minute demolition. Sevastova seemed completely befuddled. Whatever she tried, Watson had an answer.
That level of imperiousness did not last. Three double faults led to the first of three breaks of serve. From an exhibition, Watson had to resort to a full-on dogfight, but she drew greater satisfaction from that
ability to scrap it out. “Starts are very important, but I’m really happy with the second set because she raised her level,” Watson said. “The first set I just felt great, pretty flawless. It’s always going to change. I’ve got to expect her to raise her level and to try something new, and she did.”
Azarenka will prove a considerable step up even if she is ranked 683 after taking time off to start a family. Yet the bigger the stage, the better Watson tends to perform, particularly at Wimbledon. Certainly, there will be no chance of quitting, like certain others.
“Being out on a court at Wimbledon in front of a massive crowd, it’s my favourite thing to do,” Watson said. “Personally, I can’t speak for anybody else, but if my leg was broken, I’d be crawling to the next ball. That’s just me, though. I just can’t retire.”