Heather Watson Might Play Strasbourg

Written by: Staff on 16th May 2013

Heather Watson Might Play Strasbourg

epa03538434 Heather Watson of Great Britain prepares to serve as she fights back to win the second set in her 2nd round match against Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 16 January 2013. EPA/BARBARA WALTON |

While British tennis was filled with gloom over one devastating piece of news from Andy Murray, there was reason for optimism from Heather Watson.

The 21 year-old Channel Islander has returned to the practice court after suffering glandular fever and is hoping to make a comeback next week at the Strasbourg Open.

Watson has been sidelined since March, when blood tests taken during the Sony Open in Miami revealed that she had been suffering from the condition that is more popularly known as mononucleosis in the United States and enforced the premature retirement of Mario Ancic and seems to have forced Robin Soderling away from the game for an indeterminate period.

After feeling sluggish at events in America she was forced to return home to Guernsey for a complete rest, with the suggestion being that the illness – which can have widely varying degrees of severity – had been diagnosed at the back end of it debilitating her.

Watson, subsequently overtaken as Britain’s top ranked player by Laura Robson, was last week given the go-ahead to resume training and plans to return to competitive action at the relatively low-key WTA warm up in western France for Roland Garros.

Initially Watson underwent a complete period of rest at home in Guernsey but more recently has been getting back into the tennis swing, joining Tim Henman to publicize the new court at Birmingham’s Edgbaston Priory that will get its’ competitive debut at this year’s AEGON Classic just after the French Open.

She has also been very active in promotional work for the new British sports network BT Vision which will take over the WTA contract from Eurosport. Last week she appeared in a television promo with top ranking English Premier League soccer player players Gareth Bale and Robin Van Persie.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Murray, British tennis news, Heather Watson, Strasbourg Open, Tennis News, Tim Henman, Wta