Wembledon 2022: HeatherWatson: "I'll be back and better."

Heather Watson has needed the whole of her 14-year career to reach the second week of Wimbledon but doesn’t view the achievement as a consolation prize and insists: “The best is yet to come.”

The 32-year-old Channel Islander was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Jule Neimeier, one of Germany’s rising stars ten years her junior who proved just too strong on a day when Centre Court celebrated its centenary with a parade of champions including Andy Murray and the oldest, 90-year-old Angela Mortimer.

Afterwards, Watson was asked if the backing she’d received from the stands meant more to her now she was “halfway” through her career. “Halfway is generous,” she smiled. “I mean, age is just a number. I really don't think about it anymore. It will drive you crazy if you do.”

Could she see herself coming back and going for the quarter-finals and further? “Absolutely. I think in the women's game often people are breaking through later. Experience counts for a lot. Everybody's journey is different and this is mine. I broke a barrier this week. So I’m definitely hungry for more.”

Watson admitted she was down about her performance. “I'm quite deflated and disappointed. I saw this as a big opportunity, I believed in myself and thought I'd come through.

“But credit [to Neimeier]. She played really well, especially in the first set. Flawless tennis. I was thinking at the end of that set, how many unforced errors had she hit? Only two. And she also served very big.”