Watson glad to be back with the high rollers after year in shadows

Briton has had to play at the sport’s less glamorous venues after dropping out of the world’s top 100 and is determined to stop the rot at Wimbledon, writes Simon Briggs

Last year’s Wimbledon was quite the rodeo ride for Heather Watson. Beaten in the first round by Annika Beck, she also collected a £9,000 fine for slamming her racket into the court in frustration and damaging the grass.

And yet, two weeks later, Watson was holding up the mixed-doubles trophy with her Finnish partner Henri Kontinen. She finished the tournament dancing with Andy Murray and friends in the Drama nightclub in Mayfair, where one report claimed that she had blown half her £50,000 prize money by placing it behind the bar.

Twelve months later, those heady scenes feel like they belong in the distant past. The 25-yearold has endured something of an annus horribilis. At one point, her ranking dropped to No127.

As her long-standing agent, Ben Crandell, was made redundant by the management supergroup IMG, she was forced to ply her trade at lesser tournaments such as Trnava, in the Czech Republic, and Surbiton. How did this sit with a woman who has spent most of her career shuttling between her training base in Florida and big-money tournaments in glamorous destinations such as Rome and Montreal? Unsurprisingly, there was some readjusting to do.

“It was very different,” Watson said last week in Eastbourne. “Your feet get put back on the ground. At one tournament there was no water, and that was quite difficult. You are used to just picking up your water bottles from the fridge, and a small thing like makes such a difference.

“You get treated so well [on the full Women’s Tennis Association tour], and they make life so easy for us. So not having a towel, having to leave deposits for tennis balls and giving them back, that was all very tough.

“It motivated me at the same time because that’s not what I want to be doing, playing at that level. I want to get back up and climb the rankings again, because I know I’m a good enough player for it, and I have been there [in the top 100] for a long time. It’s just a little dip, and I’ll be back.”

As the British No1 for most of 2014 and 2015, Watson is used to being a high roller. She has won three WTA titles – the same as Johanna Konta, the woman who succeeded her – and captivated a TV audience of six million during her most famous match, a riveting near-miss against Serena Williams at Wimbledon two years ago. That day, the passion on Centre Court reached such hysterical levels that Williams had to ask the crowd to stop shouting out during rallies.

After the match, Murray posted a message on social media saying “Retweet if Heather Watson just made you feel really effing proud!” Meanwhile, Williams left the court and suggested that Watson could make “top 20 and beyond”. The garlands of praise would soon wither, as Watson struggled to deal with the aftermath of her narrow defeat.

As British media outlets swooned over her potential – the BBC lined up everyone from Tracy Austin to Annabel Croft to predict great things – she seemed inhibited by the extra expectation.

As Watson’s ranking stagnated, her prospects were hardly improved by the departure of long-time coach Diego Veronelli at the end of 2015. It would be more than a year before she found a steady replacement.

But this glum narrative was about to take a turn for the better. In March, Watson showed up for an impromptu hit at the Virgin Active in Chiswick, which happens

‘At one tournament there was no water. That was difficult. I don’t want to be playing at that level’