The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Tennis star Heather Watson

HEATHER, 26, is the British women’s number three and a former Wimbledon mixed doubles champion.

NEVER BE AFRAID TO SAY ‘NO’

The exhaustion was overwhelming. It was the 2013 Australian Open and out on court I felt my body cramping. My legs were so heavy I could barely move them. I’m normally fizzing with energy. I began to feel scared.

It was the worst possible time to have a crisis. Ranked at number 40 in the world, I’d reached a career high. But now my body seemed to have shut down — or my mind was playing tricks on me.

My coaches suspected the latter. As I felt so tired all day, it started to affect my mood and I felt very sad. I lay in the dark for hours. At first, my team interpreted it as a mental block. If I was getting too tired, they said, I needed to increase my fitness. Train harder! I was 21 and on the women’s tour without my parents. I said I wanted to rest, but I didn’t feel able to contradict those who wanted me to work. I got out there — and felt even worse.

By the time I arrived at the Miami Open a few weeks later, I was barely functioning. Thinking about it now makes me feel tired. I crashed out in the first round.

I told my coaches that was it. I wanted to stop tennis for ever. I wanted to go home. Saying that, mid-season, with everything to play for — my coaches knew then something was really wrong.

Someone suggested a blood test. Never have I been more relieved to get bad test results. I had glandular fever. Suddenly there was a tangible reason for this fatigue. It wasn’t all in my mind.

It took me a year to recover — one of the hardest years of my life. even when I came back to the circuit, I wasn’t wholly better. With each match I lost, my confidence dipped, but I built myself back up. In 2015, I came within two points of beating Serena Williams at Wimbledon.

That illness taught me that you must listen to your body’s signals. When it’s tired, you have to recharge for the sake of your mental and physical health.

But it also made me very aware of the power of the word ‘no’. Today, if someone told me to get on the court when I wanted to rest, I’d say a firm no. Back then I was too timid to stand up for myself.

HeatHer Watson is the new ambassador for always Platinum.