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AEGON INTERNATIONAL

June 29, 2017

Heather Watson

Eastbourne, England

H. WATSON/B. Strycova

6-1, 1-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Heck of a day for you.
HEATHER WATSON: Yeah. Long day. I had two tough opponents. I don't know which one to even talk about.

Q. Talk about yourself.
HEATHER WATSON: But, yeah. I didn't even think of the second match. I just was focused on the first match. Once I got through that, then obviously had to prepare again for the next match.

But I felt great today. Yeah. Body is feeling good.

Q. In Birmingham you talked about losing tight matches but playing well. You said you felt like a run was coming?
HEATHER WATSON: Uh-huh, I did say that.

Q. Now you're into the semifinal here.
HEATHER WATSON: Yeah. I have been waiting on it and it's come now. Yeah, the last couple of months I have really been putting in the work on and off the court, and I felt really good on the court in practice, and it's just building that confidence and momentum with match wins.

I have had a few here and there, and now it's just really come together and I feel great on the match court. I feel confident. I feel like I'm moving well, seeing the ball well, and being aggressive.

Q. What would it mean to get to the final here?
HEATHER WATSON: It would be mean a lot, for sure. It's been a while since -- it was last year in Monterrey, I think, my last.

Yeah, of course it would mean a lot for me. Getting titles under your name is important. I mean, I'm not even thinking about that yet. Like, I've got to win my next match. Yeah, it would mean a lot.

Q. You're tied with Caroline. You have similar aspects to your game. Just a few thoughts on how you want to approach that on grass.
HEATHER WATSON: Well, Caroline is obviously a great player and a great athlete. Her strength, her movement, her quickness, how she reads the game. I'm not going to be able to rely on her missing balls, because she's very consistent.

I'm going to have to go out there and keep coming to the net like I have been and throwing some junk around. Yeah, I look forward to playing her again.

Q. Between the first and second sets there against Barbora, there was quite a range of elation to frustration. How important is the emotion to fueling you and including the frustrating moments? Does that actually fuel you?
HEATHER WATSON: Today probably not, but usually sometimes when I'm frustrated it's better to let it out than just hold it in. I'm quite an emotional person. I think that shows. I'm upbeat when I win a point and very vocal, and I enjoy that. It's fun. It would be boring if I was just a robot on the court.

I think it also just shows what I go through in a match, the ups and the downs. I probably shouldn't be too negative when I am down, but that's all part of it, I think.

Q. Obviously the momentum was checked a bit while Barbora was trying to argue her case for the match to be suspended. How do you...
HEATHER WATSON: Just try not to get involved and just keep moving around and keeping my body warm and not letting that take my focus away from where we are in the match, because it was obviously a very important stage of the match.

Q. For those of us who aren't professional tennis players, can you just give an insight how difficult it is to keep together mentally and physically playing two matches and winning both of them in one day?
HEATHER WATSON: Well, physically I think we're all very fit, and quite a lot of us play doubles, as well, so I have played two matches in a day. But obviously singles is more physical. You have to move more.

So physically, fine. Mentally, it's very different because it doesn't happen very often. Like I said, I wasn't even -- I hadn't even thought about my second match. It was only my match against Anastasia this morning, and that was my sole focus for the day. Once I got through that, it was just straight on to the next one. No time to dwell on the match before.

Q. Have you spoken to Jo Konta since her match to see how she's doing?
HEATHER WATSON: No.

Q. Did you know what happened? After the match, obviously.
HEATHER WATSON: No. My coach said she fell?

Q. Match point. On the third match point.
HEATHER WATSON: No way. I don't know. I don't know what happened.

Q. She fell, hit her head. Scary moments. Yeah.
HEATHER WATSON: Did she win that point?

Q. She did. Yeah, she came back out and won the next two points.
HEATHER WATSON: Oh, okay. Well, that's good and I hope she is okay.

Q. The tennis club here is producing a book of memories and anecdotes, reflections and recollections about Devonshire Park. I know you have been here for a long time. I got a recollection from mum today. I wonder if you could just give me something -- certainly there is a memory that goes to back to when you were 10 or 11 when you first played here?
HEATHER WATSON: My mum knows more than I do. I don't know. I have been coming here through my whole tennis life, really, since I was very young, playing junior tournaments and County Cups and all of that. I think there is just too many memories (smiling).

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