|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AEGON INTERNATIONALJune 18, 2014Heather WatsonEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND H. WATSON/F. Pennetta THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. Is that one of your biggest wins, first top‑20 player? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, that is my highest win so far. But I wasn't really looking at it like that. I was looking at, you know, my goals and what I want to achieve. Doesn't matter who I was playing today. I just wanted to get to that next round. But I knew it was going to be tough. I have seen Flavia play a lot, actually. Just on TV watching, she always seemed to be on when I was watching those matches. I knew my game plan and had a good one with my coach and just kept fighting even after a tough first set. Just stuck in there and kept positive. Q. Does it give you a lot of confidence to beat a top‑20 player to carry forward into other matches? HEATHER WATSON: Absolutely. My win yesterday was also a very tough match, and I think actually being out there so long helped me today. You know, I was in situations that you only get into in matches, and I think that helped me today on the court. I feel that I played better today than I did yesterday. Q. You have had two long matches, but after a disappointing sort of early exit in Birmingham, do you feel that you are enjoying the time to get some match play on grass now? HEATHER WATSON: I think I enjoy match play every single week. It was a tough loss last week in Birmingham, but I didn't dwell on it. I just learned from it straightaway and moved on to the next one. I think that's what I'm doing a lot better is instead of being super happy when I win and super sad when I lose, I'm kind of more in a balance. I think that's really helping me in moving forward. Q. Your interaction with your coach, it's always fascinating to watch where coaches either are bombarding people with information or there is no eye contact. There seemed to be very softly spoken advice and good interaction. Can you talk a little bit about that. HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, usually he's getting pumped up, but today, being on centre court, the coaches had to sit next to each other, which is really tough. So that's weird. They had no choice. But usually he's more pumped up than I am (smiling). Q. You seemed to be upset by a line call early in the second set, a baseline call. Do you use that anger and challenge your game to make you more focused? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, actually there was a really bad one in the last game, as well, but you know you can't ‑‑what can I do? I can't do anything. I have just got to play on it from how it's been. I just use that as motivation but also just not to overthink it and just move on and keep playing. Q. Do you feel like you're in the form of your life at the moment? A top‑20 victory, and you're playing so well. Do you feel like you're playing the best tennis of your career? HEATHER WATSON: I feel like this year I have consistently played well, and that's what I want to do because that's how you climb the ladder and be one of those top players. That's what I'm trying to do week in, week out. Even when I lose a match I will still recover just like I did after a match I won just to prepare for the next week. Yeah, hopefully it continues. But still I think there is a lot to improve in my game. Q. You were aggressive out there, particularly in the deciding set. Is that something that Diego has tried to work with you a lot and tried to bring into your game? HEATHER WATSON: Well, I decided in the offseason last year that I wanted to become this more aggressive player and Diego agreed. We have both been working on it. He's been adding things to my game. One thing that I think has really made a difference, especially on this surface, is the slice. I didn't hit it too much today, but I hit it quite a bit yesterday. I think aggressive is the way forward, and that's what I'm going to keep trying to do. Even in that first‑set tiebreak, 4‑1 up, I had a second serve. I hit it, I missed it, and you could say that was a turning point in the tiebreak when I lost it, but, you know, I'm glad I went for it rather than just trying to make it, just no regrets. Q. You must be big news in Guernsey, aren't you? Give us a feel for how much interest your career has had there. HEATHER WATSON: I have no idea because I'm not there (smiling). Q. Last year you said that people usually underrate you a bit on grass because of your game. Now you got your biggest career win on grass. Are you thinking people will realize you're a better player on grass than they believe? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, I didn't know people underrated me on grass, but, you know, I like all the surfaces equally. I like clay, I like hard, I like grass. I just feel I need time to get used to them and I adapt my game. I don't play the same on all three surfaces. I think that's one of my strengths is I can change how I play for the surface and for who I'm playing against. I do like grass. I feel like I have played some of my best tennis on grass. Q. A win like this will get the British public very excited about Wimbledon coming up. Is that something you enjoy and you sort of look forward to, the big challenge of Wimbledon? HEATHER WATSON: Well, I'm just focused on this tournament right now, my next match. I'm not looking as far ahead as Wimbledon, even though it's next week (smiling). I'm just focused on my next match, doing as well as I can here. And once I'm finished here in Eastbourne, then I'll go straight to thinking about Wimbledon. Q. Not a lot of ranking points to defend the rest of the season. Do you feel like this could be a spring board for climbing up into the top 50 and maybe improving? HEATHER WATSON: I feel that's a huge bonus for me from having such a bad year last year. You can look at it as, Oh, next year I have nothing to defend. But at the beginning of the year I had quite a few points to defend, and I was doing well but was still dropping. But now it's all coming together. I don't really want to look into it too much. I don't want to think of defending points, losing points. Just if you didn't win the tournament you can always gain points. That's how I go into each tournament. Q. You mentioned that you want to get more aggression into your game. Are you, as a person, are you naturally aggressive? HEATHER WATSON: Honestly, I think, you know, there is some aggression in me (laughter). I'm normally quite chilled and laid back, but if you start a fight with me, then you'll see the aggression (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|