OK right well I'm back to my other blog noow, yup which is now more focused purely on tennis, hence the new title! ;-) So this time it isn't quite about a tournament but more about a certain player in the British ladies tour, who is fast rising and just maybe the ray of hope that British tennis desparately needs, and that player is Heather Watson.
From early this year we really saw Heather improve, and as early as the Fed Cup we saw how well she played against teams such as Israel, where she played her part in Great Britain team's success. From there she went on to produce some more impressive results, one of them was reaching the 3rd round of the WTA Premier Mandatory event, where unfortunately she eventually succumb to the World No.1, Victoria Azarenka. And even more impressively she soon also went on to reach the 3rd of Wimbledon, and she was the first player to do so since Elena Baltacha, back in 2002. And in recent weeks, in fact just last week, Heather finally managed to win her maiden WTA title, in the doubles at The Bank of the West Classic tournament in Stanford, with her partner Marina Erakovic. This in itself is hugely impressive as neither any of the other British players on tour have won a single WTA event in either singles and doubles, and its actually the first time any British player has had a win on the WTA tour since 1992! That's a 20 year drought finally been ended! But its great Heather was the one to end it.
Heather however has suffered a couple of losses this week at the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California, as she was defeated in singles by Chan Yung-Jan in straight sets 3-6, 6-7, and in the doubles, so I guess she can't win them all. Regardless of her most recent loss, Heather now being the British No.1, can try and improve her game for the future, and it will be a work in progress. And out of all the British players, Heather is by far the best and has made the most progress out of any of them this year. Its also strange to think though how she has been relegated to playing the doubles at the Olympics this year, when I think she should really play in the singles, but I think it boils down to the time when the wildcards were handed out to the British team. But either way I think Heather can make a big impression in either singles or doubles, and I'm sure with Laura Robson, the two of them will make a great team for Great Britain.
But in retrospect, it is a pity that Heather wasn't picked for the singles, as Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong have been picked instead, and unfortunately for them, they have both struggled badly this year. Elena has struggled with a foot injury, which has restricted her in winning matches, and Anne sadly has had a poor track record this year, as she has a tendency to start off her matches well but ends up always losing to lower ranked players than herself. So from the singles point of view, it doesn't bode well for the GB team, but we will see.
As for Heather however, I really think, to forgive the cliche, that a new star is born in British tennis, and it looks like she is finally filling the gap of a much needed top British player in the ladies game. And if she can go on and build on her impressive form this year, then I think it won't be long before she will start winning many singles titles on the WTA tour, and she hopefully can have the equivalent success that Andy Murray has had so far. It will take her some time to reach that level but if she carries on in the way she has been, then its only a matter of time.
Buttttttt for now we shall see how Heather progresses, but things are looking pretty bright for the new British No.1, and its a position she thoroughly deserves.
So that is that for the now.
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