Four hours' play a day in pursuit of a 'Slam'

ONE of the heartaches Ian Watson had about sending his daughter away to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida was that she was just a girl. Six months on, it is hard to imagine that the girl sitting in her parents' conservatory is still just 12 years old.

Folded into a wicker chair, Heather Watson appears supremely fit, confident and talkative, with just a hint of pre-teen shyness.

She already conducts herself like the champion her parents, and Guernsey and British tennis, hope she may become.

Although in Guernsey terms, Heather was a top sporting all-rounder, she comes across modestly and repeats a 'hard work' mantra that speaks of a feet-on-the-ground approach.

'I want to be the best I can be, and it would be good if I could win at least one Grand Slam,' she said, when asked for her ambitions. 'I try my best, give it my all and work hard.'

The former Ladies' College pupil has certainly made great strides in her tennis since moving to the famous Bollettieri academy last September.

She has won in-house tournaments above her age, and tournaments off campus, which can attract some of the best young players in the state and further afield.

Her coach writes, in her latest school report: 'Heather is a great student. She has improved a lot. I am very proud to be her coach.'

He is currently working on the youngster's racquet head speed, to allow her to hit harder and heavier, developing more explosiveness in her serve, and he notes that she is getting stronger, physically and mentally.

She also has ambitions off court.

Five A grades in her studies are due to win her a mobile phone from her parents.

It was exactly 12 months ago that the Watson family made their first trip to Florida to see the facilities at the academy and to see if parents, and daughter, could cope with a separation of thousands of miles.

When Heather called just once in the evenings that week, to inform her parents of progress in a tournament, their minds were made up.

'We came to the conclusion that she had got to do it. We had got to go for it. That's what the Americans do, they really go for it, and there was nowhere in the UK where we could get tennis like this,' said her father.

But it was still a tough decision. 'I had to remember that she was still only 12,' said Ian. 'I thought, I haven't taught her everything she needs to know yet.'

He admitted that the initial parting was traumatic.

'Michelle travelled across with Heather. I left them at the airport and it immediately felt like there was a big void in my life when I came back to an empty house. But we knew we had to do it. She wouldn't have made it here.'

There was a thought that such a move could be too much for a 12-year-old.

'We thought it may have been a bit too soon, but it worked out fine. If anything, it was a little on the late side for her. We couldn't have left it another year.

'At the end of the day, it's all credit to Heather. What's pulled her through is her personality and her ambition. Many girls would have had problems, but she just solved every problem and came through it.'

That includes things like, when travelling home, a five-hour delay on a Gatwick-Guernsey flight.

'It's at times like that you realise that she is still 12. But things get progressively easier.'

Heather, who was back in Guernsey for just a few days, has switched from playing tennis four hours a week to four hours a day. She said it was tough initially, but now she copes admirably.

'At the beginning, I didn't even want to eat, I was so tired. The heat was tough too. Now I'm used to it.'

British tennis has kept in contact with the young protegee.

Jeremy Bates, the former British number one, is looking out for Heather and she represented Britain at a tournament in Orlando.

The Bollettieri coaches, who handle youngsters from the age of five, soon identified flaws in her technique, which were quickly resolved.

In the next couple of years, Heather should start to move into junior international tournaments - the Bollettieri name will open doors to entries as soon as she is considered ready - and then progress could be rapid, as it has been with so many of the academy's alumni.

She has a five-year student visa for the US, which can be extended, and the invitation to stay at the academy remains until it is no longer needed.

'She is there as long as it takes - to succeed, or to decide that she doesn't want to do it any more,' said Ian.