Heather Watson, the only British woman still in the Wimbledon singles draw, believes she will have nothing to lose against Serena Williams on Friday after reaching the third round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2012 thanks to an impressive 6-4, 6-2 victory over Daniela Hantuchova.
It will be the biggest test Watson has faced in her career and while she acknowledged how tough it will be against the 20-times grand slam winner, who beat the Hungarian Timea Babos 6-4, 6-1, the British No1 will embrace the daunting challenge of playing the world No1 for the first time.
A match against Williams, who is chasing a sixth Wimbledon title and the first calendar slam since Steffi Graf won all four in 1988, will surely mean that Watson will be placed on Centre Court for the first time. “I’ve never played Serena before, so I’d love to play her,” Watson said. “But she’s a very, very tough opponent. But I feel like in matches like that, you’ve got a lot to gain, so it’s a real positive as well to play her.
“Serena’s a great player. She’s an amazing athlete, a great champion. She’s always the one to watch. She’s always the favourite for every tournament she plays. So I think she’s the one to beat in tournaments like this. She’s probably the toughest opponent.”
Watson is confident she will be able to cope with the heightened expectation, saying that she has learnt from her heavy defeat to Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round three years ago.
“I remember playing that match against Radwanska,” Watson said. “I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. I remember overplaying totally and thinking she was going to be this amazing player that, you know, I’m going to have no chance against. I tried to hit winners on the first ball. That was no good. This time around, you know, this isn’t my first, second or third Wimbledon. I’ve been here a few times now. I’ve gotten a feel for playing the top players.
“Everybody’s human. Everybody’s going to make mistakes. Everybody is going to have good days and bad days. Having those experiences really help.”
After needing two days to win her first-round match against the No32 seed Caroline Garcia, Watson was largely untroubled against Hantuchova. She recovered well after dropping her serve early in the first set and channelled her aggression well to dominate against the world No72. “I thought I played a lot better,” Watson said. “I hit the ball a lot harder. I was a lot more aggressive. Served well. That’s how I need to play if I want to win matches like that. Against somebody like Daniela, if I’m just going to make the ball, she’s going to put it away. Those are the matches I have to win.”
Watson coped well with Wedneday’s heatwave, although the sweltering conditions in SW19 did hamper her celebrations on Court One. “I was very happy,” Watson said. “I wanted to smile, but my mouth was so dry, I couldn’t even open my mouth. I was just very pleased to get through that. I felt I did everything I wanted to do and needed to do and played how I wanted to play. I was just pleased with the result.”
