During that time Heather Watson has carried on going to work, playing three matches in three consecutive days in an attempt to qualify for the main singles draw at Wimbledon, having been denied a wild card into The Championships this year.
On Tuesday she hammered Mayar Sharif 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of qualifying, which takes place at Roehampton, around three miles from The All England Club.
On Wednesday Watson came from a set down to defeat Tatiana Prozorova in a match lasting 13 minutes shy of three hours, setting up a third round showdown against Maria Timofeeva for a place in the first round proper at Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.
Alas, despite giving her all against Timofeeva in stifling conditions that verged on the unplayable, the 34-year-old Sarnian was unable to make it a hat-trick of wins, losing 6-3, 2-6, 1-6 on Roehampton’s main show court.
Having competed in the first round of the main singles draw at Wimbledon every year since 2010, Watson will have to sit 2026 out – unless, that is, there are any withdrawals between now and next Monday and Tuesday, when the first round takes place, at which point she could feasibly be drafted in as a lucky loser.
Absent from the tennis tour for much of the past 12 months due to injury, Watson can take heart from her endeavours this week at Roehampton. That, though, will have been of little consolation in the wake of yesterday’s defeat.
Although Timofeeva played well, Watson’s lack of match fitness allied with the extreme temperatures ultimately combined to derail her.
At one point midway through the decisive third set, it seemed as if she was on the verge of fainting, being sick, or both. Far from displaying any sympathy, the umpire chose instead to give her a code violation for not serving in time. ‘That’s ridiculous,’ one fan in the crowd called out. And, given the circumstances, it was.
Come the end, Watson sat in her chair beside the umpire’s seat for a good 10 minutes with a towel over her head, contemplating defeat. Yes, there were tears.
When she finally left the court she did so to cheers from the crowd, prior to receiving medical attention for her exertions away from prying eyes.
‘I know Heather, she’s a great player and we’ve played once before which was also a very close match, so I knew it was not going to be easy today,’ said Timofeeva afterwards.
‘She’s good on all surfaces but particularly on grass, so I knew it was going to be really tough.
‘That’s why I want to give all the credit to Heather. She played a great match today.’
