HEATHER Watson stopped just short of calling for a boxing-style rematch with World No 1 Serena Williams after falling just two points short of recording the most significant win in British women's tennis for decades.
The 23-year-old from Guernsey said she was confident she would overcome the 20-time Grand Slam winner, who is pursuing the full collection of major titles, if she met her again following this 6-2, 4-6, 5-7 reverse in front of an enthralled Centre Court crowd.
While the 33-year-old moves on to face her sister Venus in the last 16, Watson had the consolation of having proved to herself that she can mix it with the very best the sport has to offer. Had Watson been victorious, it would have been the first time a British woman had dethroned a No 1 ranked player since Sue Barker beat Chris Evert back in 1978.
"I know how I'd play," said Watson. "I'd know my game plan. Even now I just wish I could maybe go back and play one point different to see if it would have changed things. I wouldn't be playing if I didn't think I could beat the best in the world."
While one of the sport's superstars survived by the skin of her teeth, it was time for another to enter the fray. Andy Murray takes on Andreas Seppi of Italy third on Centre Court today in an attempt to book his place in the second week at Wimbledon 2015, while his pal James Ward faces Vasek Pospisil of Canada in an attempt to keep two Brits in the last 16 for the first time since 2002.
Murray, arguably one of the finest all-round sportsmen on the planet, said he would be interested in taking part in Superstars, the famous sporting challenge show which made a hero of British judoka Brian Jacks, and has spawned numerous re-makes. The most recent of these came after the 2012 Olympics, when it was won by heavyweight boxing phenomenon Anthony Joshua.
"I don't know whether I would fancy myself at it but I'd like to do it and would find it fun," said the Scot. "For tennis, you have to be good at a lot of things. But my speed on the tennis court is because I am quick over two or three metres, or changing direction. Over a 50m or 100m race I am not going to be particularly quick in comparison to some football players or some rugby players - anything like that. But I suppose we are used to being very versatile.
"There are a lot of different skills that you have to train in tennis in terms of the strokes - forehands, backhands, serves, returns, smashes, drop shots. Different spins, different surfaces."
Shortly before the old Andy Murray is in action, also in action at SW19 will be the teenage girl already being dubbed the 'new Andy Murray'. One of three girls and one boy in the juniors, fifteen-year-old Ali Collins, who also hails from Dunblane, has been handed a wild card into the girls' singles event for the first time and she will begin her campaign against Sofya Zhuk of Russia.
Murray's mother Judy has said she is reluctantly prepared to fund her development at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Florida if the LTA are unable or unwilling to do so.
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