Interview with Heather Watson After Impressive Win Over Bojana Jovanovski

Written by: Staff on 14th June 2010

Interview with Heather Watson After Impressive Win Over Bojana Jovanovski |

The following is a press interview with Heather Watson following her victory over Bojana Jovanovski, 6-1; 1-6; 6-1, at AEGON International.

Q: Do you think you will continue to base yourself there (Bollettieri)?

Watson: I think so. I think it’s a great training camp, but also I’ll be working at the NTC as well.

Q: Which players do you look up to past or present?

Watson: Serena’s been my favourite since I was a little girl. She’s an amazing ball striker, but I also love Sharapova – her aura around the court and her determination to win.

Q: Serena’s done pretty well at Wimbledon over the years.

Watson: Yes she has – she’s done very well.

Q: Have you spoken to either of them?

Watson: (Laughter) – um… no.

Q: Would you go up and ask for their autograph?

Watson: I don’t think I should do that anymore – I’m too old!

Q: A lot of juniors have problems going from juniors to main tour – what’s the biggest challenge you’re finding?

Watson: When I played juniors the first few rounds would be easy-ish and you’d get through comfortably and then it would get a bit harder and harder. But here it’s straight off the bat first round, it’s a tough match and you don’t win as many tournaments – you just try and get as far as you can.

Q: Which of the sisters would you like to play – Serena or Venus?

Watson: Either – I don’t mind.

Q: Tell us about Wimbledon and how much you’re looking forward to that?

Watson: I am so excited and this is great preparation for it. I’m just so excited to play – whoever I play against I’m just going to enjoy it, enjoy the experience and go in to win.

Q: Do you suffer from nerves at all?

Watson: I think I used to, but I haven’t been lately – today I didn’t at all.

Q: When the second set was getting away from you, did you just mentally think: ‘right, I’ll write this off’?

Watson: Yes I thought: just start again first set, just get my energy up and play like you can.

Q: Slight problem in the second set with (the) toss?

Watson: I couldn’t really get up to ball – pain in my side, but it disappeared in third set. I have a strain in my side – it felt tight yesterday and it pulled a bit more today. I will have physio after this.

Q: What is your favourite surface?

Watson: My favourite surface is hard, but I am starting to like all surfaces as they bring out different aspects of my game.

Q: Did your opponent have any problem – she called for her trainer?

Watson: She called her coach on, because you can call your coach on court to talk tactics and stuff.

Q: It didn’t work though?

Watson: (Laughter) No, no I didn’t want it to work!

Q: How much more in junior comp are you playing this year?

Watson: I don’t think I’m going to play any more juniors from now – I am just going to focus on women’s now.

Q: Even Wimbledon and US Open?

Watson: Yep, definitely not playing Wimbledon – I have pulled out.

Q: Do you have a specific target, ranking wise?

Watson: I definitely want to get inside the top 200 and working to achieve that goal – get fitter, stronger and keep learning.

Q: Do you know who you’re playing yet in the first round?

Watson: No not until all the qualifiers are done – two qualifiers play each other and then one plays Petrova and the other plays Pennetta. If I play qualifier it’s a great opportunity, but if I play one of the two top ranked players it’s another opportunity!

Topics: Aegon, Autograph, Bojana, Few Rounds, Heather Watson, Ish, Jovanovski, Juniors, Laughter, Little Girl, Match, Nerves, Ntc, Pl, Serena, Striker, Training Camp, Venus, Victory, Wimbledon