‘They’re trying to kill me’ Heather Watson hits out at Wimbledon schedule on 4 hours sleep | Tennis | Sport
Heather Watson claimed Wimbledon are “trying to kill her” with their scheduling as she has been made to play on all four days of the tournament so far. The Brit’s first-round match against Tamara Korpatsch on Monday was suspended at 1-1 in the first set because of the 11pm curfew.
Watson returned the following day and secured a 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-2 victory on Court 1.
The Brit 30-year-old was given another late start on Wednesday for her second-round clash with Wang Qiang, which was suspended again due to bad light.
Watson was one game away from winning the match at 7-5, 5-4 but was made to return on Thursday morning, where she wrapped up the win in just over a minute.
However, the world No 127 is not happy with how she has been scheduled so late in the day.
“Honestly I’m not coping very well any more,” Watson told the BBC. “I got less than four hours sleep last night and they’ve scheduled me tonight not before 6pm for doubles. I think they’re trying to kill me here to be honest.”
The late finishes and early rises has left Watson struggling to switch off when she returns home from the All England Club.
She added: “Firstly I couldn’t see, for the last four games neither of us could see the ball, they kept us on court until it was almost pitch black. So that was really tough to deal with.
“When I was trying to serve it out all I was focusing on was trying to hit the ball because I could barely see it.
“Last night I was just trying to wind down because it was so late and I had to be back at 10.30am, that’s not a lot of time to rest and recover.
“It’s tough to just go to sleep on command. You’re thinking about a lot, the match is still going on, the adrenaline. I was trying to wind down and it just didn’t work.”
Watson has reached the third round at Wimbledon for the fourth time in her career and she is looking to progress into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“I respect every single person in the draw. Everyone can play tennis,” she explained. “You see upsets, especially in the women’s game, just constantly now because the strength and depth is so big.
“But, yeah, I do see it as an opportunity, just like I saw today as an opportunity. And also I think when people look at the draw and see me at Wimbledon on grass, it’s not an easy draw either. But again, she’s probably thinking the same.
“Hopefully it will be a much better match than the US Open because I wasn’t there that day.”
