On a cloudy day in Paris after a restless night of worry, there was clarity at last for Heather Watson, whose victory against her new doubles partner, Nicole Gibbs, in the first round of the French Open just about put her on the plane to Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The world No56 tried hard to keep her mind on this tournament but admitted later: “It’s been pretty much my main goal this year. I have no idea why [other athletes] don’t want to go – because I love it. I had a great time [at the 2012 London Olympics], and I want to go back.”
Returning to the court after an overnight pause because of the weather, Watson finished off her American opponent impressively to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
While Rio has occupied much of her thoughts during the summer, the night before this rain-interrupted match Watson was not all relaxed. “I couldn’t get to sleep. My mind was going over everything in my whole life, not just the tennis match. I slept like five hours. But I woke up feeling fine, and it was just all just being positive for me.”
Naomi Broady, meanwhile, is happy to reveal she is not bothered about going to Rio – partly because she has not played Federation Cup and is therefore ineligible – but nor is she going any further here, after another American, Coco Vandeweghe cut through the early evening gloom on Court No4 to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in just over two hours. Broady led 2-0 in the third but could not hold her tennis together when it mattered.
Watson next plays a first match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 13th seed and former champion here on a bit of a roll, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. “She is a grand slam champion, been around a long time, and can be extremely dangerous on her day,” Watson said. Watson broke Gibbs for 2-2 when they resumed after an interminable wait, then held and broke again for 4-2, hitting hard from behind the baseline in extended rallies that frayed the nerves of the small knot of supporters huddled together on Court No3.
Gibbs, wearing leggings to guard against the creeping cold, fought through three deuce points but hit a final forehand long and needed to hold to stay in the match. The American’s discipline disintegrated under quality pressure in the final service game of the match, and Watson sealed it with a cool overhead smash after two hours and 19 minutes – but which must have seemed a lot longer.
