British Pro Tennis Player Living A Not So Posh Lifestyle

By Montana Moore

November 16, 2018

The heart of Watson at home

Elon, NC - Heather Watson, Great Britain native but resides in Florida, looks a bit

anxious while sounding like it too. The professional tennis player slowly sinks lower into the

couch. Her groggy speech is quite understandable considering her rigorous schedule while she’s

on tour.

Watson’s smile and bubbliness have mysteriously disappeared. Within minutes her

thoughts pivoted into loneliness.

"A lot of the time I just have this feeling of loneliness. I just want to go home and see

everybody, because I hardly get to see my friends and family during the season which really

hurts” Watson said.

Tennis being an individual sport can come with too many “time to self” moments. Too

many moments alone can cause multiple strain on the body overtime.

“It's extremely rough emotionally and mentally, constantly living out of a suitcase.

Playing your match, then going straight back to your hotel room, it’s just a lot of alone time for

someone like me who’s more of an extrovert I suppose” Watson said.

She gazes on across the room, reflectively. She thinks about the times she’s celebrated

the most with her team.

It was when she made it to the third round at Wimbledon.

 Watson falling in 2015 to this year’s U.S. Open champion, Naomi Osaka. The fight to

make it to that round was no joy ride but the experience in itself was memorable.

Falling in the third round at Wimbledon is heartbreaking, but it is plain she finds the

rigorous life on tour somewhat of a trial. Part of the issue, abnormally, is her personality.

"To be honest I don't really fit in," she accepts. "I couldn't be mean to the other girls on

tour and not talk to people if I tried,” said Watson.

Watson is a major introvert but has a vibrant personality but has trouble opening up to

other women on the tour. While her circle of friends are very small she reminds herself that her

popularity on tour isn’t what makes her the big bucks, that’s her talent and results.

Watson as a player

Watson plays very reserve but aggressive. She sits back on the baseline and retrieves

every ball some may call this “pushing” but she can still

hang with some of the biggest hitters in the game.

Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, and Victoria

Azarenka to name a few.

“Some say I’m a pusher and I just get every ball

back and never attack, but I beg to differ. I like to

consider myself an aggressive player, I may not be the

most aggressive which I’m currently working on but I

can for sure keep up with the best,” said Watson.

Watson during Wimbledon in 2018

(Image Credits: Getty Images Europe)
 Once Watson turned pro at 17 she never looked back. After turning pro, you play nothing

but money tournaments for the most part. In other words, every match you win you get money.

The biggest goal for every aspiring professional tennis player is to win a grand slam. For

American tennis players, the goal is to win the U.S. Open. But for Watson, it’s Wimbledon.

“I think I play the best on hard which is funny since Wimbledon is on grass,” said

Watson.

Feeling lonely on tour

For Watson there’s a sense of isolation when smothered by nothing but tennis players and

then only have a few amount of friends can impact her game. Some other players don’t see their

opponents as friends but as simply an opponent and nothing more.

“They believe that it allows them to focus. In their heads, this person isn’t a friend, this

person is an opponent. But this is the job. It's difficult, though” said Watson.

Watson keeps a very close knit circle of friends on tour. She draws comfort particularly

from the company of a fellow British idol Laura Robson and her current doubles partner, New

Zealand's Marina Erakovic.

As of right now, she is already trying to steal herself a win in a warm up tournament in

Auckland just before she goes onto her 11th Australian Open. This is the time of the year in

which, based upon Watson’s experience one year ago, she doesn’t entirely enjoy thinking about.

Last Christmas, she sprained her ankle playing soccer which prevented her from

advancing beyond the first round of any singles tournament at all for three months.
 "This caused me to go on a four-match losing streak. This had never happened to me

before so I was shocked at myself. I just got really depressed at times, and unhappy” said

Watson.

Watson thought every morning, “Oh, I just don't want to play at all. I don't want to get

out of my bed I just want to lay here all day. I went through a really bad period at that time.

This sand pit started to suck Watson in less and less overtime. Her motivation came back

after making it to the semifinals in Miami.

“This was one of the lowest points in my tennis career. It was just complete rubbish,”

said Watson.

Watson admits she was unrecognizable from the exuberant Guernsey girl to whom we

have grown accustomed.

"There was a ginormous change in my demeanor and attitude. I was losing on a

consistent basis and I would just think to myself, 'What's the point, what is actually the point of

making all of these sacrifices and I can’t win a single match?'

I got super-negative which isn’t me. It was a big struggle, awful in fact. This game is

what I love and live to do every day, what I want to do. I eat and breathe it. So when you hate it,

it just doesn't seem right, it’s like it hates you right back," said Watson.

The 25 year-old knew she had to recapture her customary irrepressible self.

Changes were essential, a must. But none caused more strain than her choice to pull her

Papua New Guinean mother, Michelle, from her support team.

 This mother daughter duo has been inseparable from birth of Watson. From the time in

2006 when Michelle had left husband Ian, once managing director of Guernsey Electricity, back

home in Great Britain had decided to support Watson during her time at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis

academy in Bradenton,

Florida.

The on-tour dynamic

between the two was

ultimately unworkable.
Watson receiving junior U.S.
Open award while standing with
her mother Michelle
(Image Credit: Getty Images)

"It was essentially

her and I just arguing non-stop about petty things," Watson explains. "That didn't benefit my

mental state of mind. When I’m alone, I'm able to focus much better. Say if you're travelling

with someone, you're basically dependent - there would be no thought that crosses my mind

about which gate I’d need to go through because she’d already be there. You're conscious of

everything when you’re left to your own devices and that's why I found it’d be easier to be

professional” Watson said.

She is all too familiar, she argues, of the foregoing occurrence in tennis of the unstable

mother-daughter relationships.

When Martina Hingis threw her legendary temper tantrum after losing in the 1999 French

Open final against Steffi Graf, her mother Melanie had to haul her off the court for the ending

ceremony.
 According to Watson, “sometimes it’s better for the both of us if she’s just a mum, rather

than coaching me and being too involved in every aspect.” After this, Watson has clearly

identified a role to both her parents.

While the emotional sounding board still remains to be mum, Ian tends to be more of the

strategist and devoted journal manager, devising Watson’s next year’s goal to break the world’s

top 50.

“Before it was mainly top 150, top 125,” said Watson, currently ranked 98th in the world.

Watson’s highest ranking was 38 back in 2015 but her ranking, like most professional

tennis players suffers from inflation.

Ian and Watson used to track her ranking by 10’s but considering it has dropped

considerably in the last few years they’ve had to have some discussions about her “plan.”

“Hey do you think this tennis thing is for you? Should you just go to school? Do you

want a job? He keeps it real with me and that’s been an important factor in my career ”

said Watson.

This thought of quitting has never crossed Watson’s mind.

“I’ve devoted my entire life and some of parents I can’t quite, but it feels like a roller

coaster I can’t get off of,” said Watson.

Contact Information:

Heather Watson: 941-932-6510

Michelle Watson: 941-264-7559

Laura Robson: 903-520-4719