Dubai: Despite falling on her Dubai debut, Great Britain’s top tennis player Heather Watson thinks she is headed in the right direction.
Afflicted with pain in her legs during her opening round loss to Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova on Monday, Watson assured that her tennis is still left untouched despite her recent health problems.
Watson had a fantastic career as a junior while winning the 2008 US Open and gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games the same year. She rose to No.3 on the ITF Junior Circuit carrying with her the hopes of a nation.
Trained at the famed Nick Bollettieri academy, she has often been compared to former world number on Martina Hingis while being praised by her mentor for her “amazing footwork”. Moreover, her great on-court intelligence, court sense and perfect timing have ensured she became the best women’s tennis player in Great Britain.
She made a blistering start to 2015 with an excellent run that fetched her the Hobart International for her second career title. Watson didn’t drop a set, beating Magdalena Rybarikova, fifth seed Sloane Stephens, ninth seed Roberta Vinci and eighth seed Alison Riske, after which the British girl went on to defeat Madison Brengle in the final.
However, she could not carry forward this form into the Australian Open as she fell in the first round to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova at the Australian Open. And Monday’s opening round exit here did not help her either. But, Watson is not too concerned that her drop in form is anything to worry about.
“I feel like I have just gradually grown and my career has just been going up. I mean, I have had a few ups and downs and a few bumps in the road, but I am still going up. Last week I was at my career high, and I feel like there is so much more I can improve on and so many things I can do better. I think that’s just really positive for the future,” Watson told media.
Currently ranked No.32 on the WTA Tour, among the things Watson wants to pay attention to is certain aspects of her game so that she can achieve maximum success in the future. “There’s bits in every single part of my game that I need to improve on. Something that I have been working on is my footwork in cutting the angles, playing more positively and moving forward,” she assured.
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