93 Facts About Heather Watson

Heather Miriam Watson was born on 19 May 1992 and is a British professional tennis player.

In October 2012, Heather Watson won her first WTA Tour singles title at the Japan Women's Open, becoming the first British woman to win a WTA tournament singles title since Sara Gomer in 1988.

Heather Watson reached No 3 in the world on the ITF Junior Circuit.

Heather Watson was born in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey to Michelle and Ian Watson.

Heather Watson's mother is from Papua New Guinea and her father is British, and was the managing director of Guernsey Electricity from 1995 until retirement in 2010.

Heather Watson started playing tennis at the age of seven, and at age twelve she went to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida.

Heather Watson lost in the under-18 semifinals again in 2008 to eventual winner Tara Moore.

In October, Heather Watson travelled to Pune in India to compete at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games where she won the gold medal, winning the final against Kyra Shroff.

Heather Watson achieved her first senior women's world ranking on 27 July 2009, entering at No 756.

Heather Watson won her first senior title at the Frinton $10k tournament.

At the 2009 US Open, Heather Watson was seeded 11th for the girls' singles.

Heather Watson played her semifinal on the same day and was victorious against Daria Gavrilova to reach the final, where she faced doubles partner Yana Buchina.

Heather Watson entered her next tournament, a $25k event in Jersey, on a wildcard and beat compatriot Jade Curtis in the first round.

Heather Watson was defeated by another Britain, Katie O'Brien, in round two.

Heather Watson went on to qualify for the next tournament she entered and again faced Smith in the semifinals; however, this time Watson was victorious and went on to beat Anna Fitzpatrick in the final to win her first title.

Heather Watson ended the 2009 season with a singles ranking of 588.

Heather Watson began 2010 with a wildcard into the $25k event in Sutton, London, where she made the quarterfinals.

Heather Watson immediately flew to the $100k Midland Classic, losing to qualifier and fellow 17-year-old Beatrice Capra in the first round.

Heather Watson was then given a wildcard into the main draw of the Miami Open, but lost to Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round.

Heather Watson defeated world No 48, Aleksandra Wozniak, in the first round.

Heather Watson then entered the first Grand Slam tournament of her career, after receiving a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon.

Heather Watson met Romina Oprandi in the first round and lost in three sets.

Heather Watson defeated four fellow British players on her way to the final, where she defeated former top-30 player Sania Mirza to win her second ITF title.

Heather Watson eventually lost to top seed, Anastasia Rodionova of Australia, in the quarterfinals.

Heather Watson began the season by qualifying for the Auckland Open.

Heather Watson continued her winning streak in the main tournament and beat ninth seed Carla Suarez Navarro to get into the quarterfinals, where she lost to Peng Shuai.

On 3 April 2011, Heather Watson won two matches to qualify for the Charleston Open, where she lost a close three-set match to Christina McHale in the first round.

Heather Watson went on to beat Katarzyna Piter in the second round of qualifying, but eventually lost to Tamira Paszek in the final qualifying round.

Heather Watson beat Raluca Olaru and Sally Peers in the first and second rounds, respectively, to reach the final round, where she defeated Stefanie Vogele to gain a place in the main draw for the first time.

Heather Watson played French wildcard Stephanie Foretz Gacon in the first round and won.

Heather Watson continued her good form entering the grass-court season when she beat 15th seed Chanelle Scheepers in the first round of the Birmingham Classic.

Heather Watson followed this up by beating Misaki Doi in the second round.

On 22 June 2011, Heather Watson played Mathilde Johansson in her first round match in the Wimbledon Championships, winning the opening set before suffering an arm injury in the second set.

On 29 August 2011, in the first round of the US Open, Heather Watson lost in three sets to former champion Maria Sharapova.

Heather Watson lost in the first round of the Australian Open to the eventual champion Victoria Azarenka.

Heather Watson won three rounds in qualifying for the French Open at Roland Garros in May 2012.

Heather Watson then defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round, matching her 2011 result in the tournament.

In June, ranked No 103, Heather Watson defeated world No 52, Iveta Benesova, in her first singles win at 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

Heather Watson then beat Jamie Hampton, becoming the first British woman since 2002 to reach the third round of Wimbledon.

Heather Watson won the doubles competition of the Stanford Classic, where she played with Marina Erakovic to beat Vania King and Jarmila Gajdosova in a second set tiebreak.

Heather Watson received an ITF wildcard into the singles tournament at the London Olympics, where she defeated Silvia Soler Espinosa, before losing her second-round match to Maria Kirilenko.

Heather Watson played in the women's doubles in the Olympic tournament with Laura Robson, losing in the first round to Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki.

Heather Watson gained automatic entry into the main draw of the US Open but was beaten in the first round by Li Na.

Heather Watson made a WTA Tour singles final for the first time in her career at the HP Open where she beat Polona Hercog, sixth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, Pauline Parmentier and Misaki Doi.

Heather Watson became the first Briton to win a WTA singles title since Sara Gomer in 1988.

Heather Watson made the doubles final in the same event with Kimiko Date-Krumm, but lost to Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.

Heather Watson began the year in the top 50 and therefore qualified for the Australian Open.

Heather Watson reached the second round for the first time in her career thanks to a three-set victory against the Romanian Alexandra Cadantu.

Heather Watson faced world No 4, Agnieszka Radwanska, in the third round, where she was beaten in two sets.

Heather Watson then defeated Andrea Hlavackova in another three-setter before losing to Stefanie Vogele in the quarterfinals.

Heather Watson was forced to miss Great Britain's Fed Cup Play-off against Argentina after contracting glandular fever.

Heather Watson then lost in the next round to fourth-seed Alize Cornet, in straight sets.

Heather Watson faced 31st seed Daniela Hantuchova and lost in three sets.

Heather Watson then proceeded to compete at the second-tier Midland Classic where she defeated Ksenia Pervak in the final to win her fourth ITF title and, partnering Anna Tatishvili, she reached the doubles final and won after a deciding champions tiebreak.

Heather Watson claimed a two-set victory, before defeating sixth seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the final.

Heather Watson then played Angelique Kerber, the ninth seed, in the second round losing in three sets.

Heather Watson won her third career doubles title at the Baku Cup, partnering with Alexandra Panova.

Heather Watson won her second tour title at the Hobart International.

At Wimbledon, Heather Watson made it into the third round for the second time in her career.

Heather Watson was then pitted against the world No 1, Serena Williams, and was two points away from winning, but lost in three sets in a match described by pundits as a "thriller".

Heather Watson represented her nation at the Hopman Cup with Andy Murray.

Heather Watson was beaten by Caroline Garcia in the tie against France, but went on to win against Daria Gavrilova and Sabine Lisicki.

The tournament was interrupted by multiple rain delays, with Heather Watson losing in the quarterfinals, playing twice in one day.

In Mexico at the Monterrey Open, Heather Watson defeated No 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki and No 4 seed Caroline Garcia on her way to the title, beating Kirsten Flipkens in the championship match for her third WTA title.

In Melbourne at the Australian Open, Heather Watson beat seeded Samantha Stosur to get through to the second round.

Heather Watson was runner-up at the ITF event of Surbiton and reached Eastbourne semifinals, defeating top-10 player Dominika Cibulkova in the second round, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third and Barbora Strycova in the quarterfinals, before falling to Caroline Wozniacki.

Heather Watson was docked a point for swearing as she and Tatjana Maria lost to Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova in the doubles quarterfinals in Wimbledon.

Heather Watson showed signs of form when she reached the final of an ITF event in Canada, before losing to Misaki Doi.

Heather Watson carried this form into the US Open qualifying where she won three successive matches to reach the main draw.

However, Heather Watson was unable to get her first main-draw win in New York as she lost in three sets to Ekaterina Makarova.

Heather Watson reached the semifinals in Quebec, but lost in a deciding set tiebreak against Pauline Parmentier.

On her way to the semifinals, Heather Watson defeated top seed Elise Mertens, before losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina.

Heather Watson took this form to the Australian Open, where she defeated Kristyna Pliskova in the opening round, before losing to Mertens.

Heather Watson lost to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the opening tie, before beating Rebecca Sramkova on the following day.

In February 2020, Heather Watson played at the Mexican Open in Acapulco, winning her fourth career singles title.

Heather Watson defeated CoCo Vandeweghe, Kateryna Bondarenko, Christina McHale and Wang Xiyu to reach the final, where she overcame qualifier Leylah Fernandez in three sets, clinching the match on her tenth championship point.

Heather Watson won the Battle of the Brits Premier League women's event, held in December 2020.

Heather Watson took part in her third Olympics at the delayed Tokyo Games.

At the Miami Open, Heather Watson broke a six-year losing streak at the event when she defeated Arantxa Rus in the first round where after a 3-hour 25 minute battle.

Heather Watson then overcame 15th seed Elina Svitolina before losing her next match to 22nd seed Belinda Bencic.

Heather Watson reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal in almost two years at Hua Hin with wins over second seed Yulia Putintseva and Han Na-lae.

Heather Watson lost in the last eight to seventh seed Wang Xinyu.

Heather Watson made it through qualifying at the Austin Open where she defeated Danka Kovinic in the first round, before losing to fifth seed Sloane Stephens.

Heather Watson's run was ended by eventual champion Katie Boulter.

Heather Watson was selected to play doubles alongside Katie Boulter at the 2024 Summer Olympics which was her fourth appearance at the Games.

Heather Watson went out in the second qualifying round for the US Open, losing in straight sets to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Heather Watson overcame Lu Jiajing in the first round to record only her third main draw singles win of the season.

Heather Watson defeated Lola Radivojevic to reach the second qualifying round at the Australian Open, where she was eliminated by Varvara Lepchenko.

Heather Watson's game is often likened to that of Martina Hingis and she has been praised by Nick Bollettieri for her "amazing footwork".

Heather Watson's game has been described as similar to ATP player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga due to her "big serve" and athleticism.

In 2011, Heather Watson used the Dunlop Biomimetic 300 Tour tennis racquet, and has played with, and endorsed, the Dunlop Srixon CX 200 LS.

Since the end of 2020, Heather Watson has started to use the Babolat Pure Strike racquet, that she used in 2016 and 2017 as well.

From 2016 to 2018, Heather Watson was in a relationship with fellow tennis player Lloyd Glasspool.