NEVER meet your heroes, so they say.
Tell that to Heather Watson. In the headline match on Centre Court today, shortly after Novak Djokovic has graced that arena, she will attempt to bring her idol crashing to earth. On the other side of the net will be Serena Williams, the No 1 seed and World No 1, who she will hope to prevent from completing her collection of the sport's Grand Slam titles for the second time in her career.
It is a daunting challenge, the kind from which most players - British or otherwise - would baulk. Were she to achieve it, she would be the first British female to beat a World No 1 since Sue Barker against Chris Evert in Boston in 1979. But for this engaging 23-year-old from St Peter Port in Guernsey, it is the culmination of her life's work, the biggest match of her career by a distance. An avowed fan of both Williams sisters, it is a moment she has been building to since he first visited Wimbledon at the age of seven or eight.
"I came to Wimbledon and I bought two posters," recalled Watson of that first SW19 visit. "One was Venus and Serena together and one was Roger Federer. So those were the three players I liked. They went straight up on my wall."
Watson has gone head-to-head with big sister Venus, the 35-year-old who ironically may lie in wait for the winner, going down in straight sets in Beijing last year. And she has been in close proximity to both sisters in the past. While practising out at Nick Bolletieri's IMG academy in Florida, the Williams sisters occasionally checked in to practise.
"I've seen Serena there a few times, not that often, and she was only there for a day or so," added Watson, who was in action yesterday, winning 6-4, 7-6 (4) with partner Marina Erakovic in the doubles against Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia and Nadia Kichenok of Ukraine. "When I was younger, 12 or 13, you know being at school there, it was a big thing for her to come and train there, so all of our teachers let us out of school to go and watch her practise and play. There were just hundreds of us schoolkids there so I don't know if she signed autographs. But now I might get the opportunity to play her. It's really exciting.
"You know, when people that don't know much about tennis find out I play tennis, one of the first questions is, have you played Serena, and I'm like 'no'," she added. "But I have played Venus!"
Serena, third on the all-time list with 20 Grand Slams, lives a showbiz life these days, going on stage with Taylor Swift this fortnight and played rather erratically during last month's French Open. Watson believes she has fought for her right to party. "She's done so well in her tennis life that she's allowed to enjoy her life off the court a bit," said Watson. "She has big celebrity status. So she's living it up."
For her part, Williams isn't exactly an authority on Watson. "I don't know her at all," said Serena, who has pulled out of the women's doubles with her sister to concentrate on the singles. "I see her around the locker room a little bit. She's always smiling, so she seems to be super sweet. I know Venus has played her before. I've watched that match a few times. I feel like she does really well on grass. So it's not going to be easy for me. She has nothing to lose."
Andy Murray, one man who takes a keen interest in women's matches, had his own words of support. "It is probably the biggest test in tennis right now, I would think," said Murray. "I saw a little bit of Serena's match and she looked extremely motivated from the beginning. In some of the matches at the French Open, it didn't appear that way. I don't know if that was nerves or anything but she looked pretty fired up the other day.
"So it's going to be an extremely difficult match for Heather. But she's going to have the crowd with her and she has to try to use that to her advantage, try not to be intimidated. I'm not going to go into tactics or anything. But she needs to go out there, really go for it, try not to let Serena dictate, and hopefully she can serve well. That will make a big difference."
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