The 21st century

Heather Watson

Great Britain · born St Peter Port, Guernsey, 1992 · Wimbledon mixed doubles champion 2016 with Henri Kontinen

Heather Watson
si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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2016

Wimbledon mixed title, the first senior Wimbledon title for a British woman since 1987

2

Wimbledon mixed finals in a row with Henri Kontinen, 2016 and 2017

5-4

Third-set score at which she served for the match against Serena Williams in 2015

2022

First fourth round at a major, at Wimbledon

Playing career

Heather Watson was born in St Peter Port, Guernsey, in 1992. Her father, from Manchester, ran Guernsey Electricity and her mother is from Papua New Guinea. She started playing at seven and at twelve went to live and train at the Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida. As a junior she won the US Open girls' singles and a Commonwealth Youth Games gold medal.

In 2012 she became British No. 1 and won her first WTA singles title at the Japan Women's Open, the first British woman to win a WTA singles title since Sara Gomer in 1988. At Wimbledon in 2015 she served for the match against Serena Williams on Centre Court. In 2016 she won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Henri Kontinen in their first event together, and the pair reached the final again in 2017. In 2022 she reached the fourth round of a major for the first time, at Wimbledon.

On grass

Wimbledon mixed 2016Unseeded with Henri Kontinen, beat Oliver Marach and Jeļena Ostapenko 7-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals and Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Grönefeld 7-6, 6-4 in the final
Wimbledon mixed 2017Final with Kontinen, lost to Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-4
Wimbledon 2015, third roundLost to Serena Williams 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 on Centre Court after leading 3-0 in the third set and serving for the match at 5-4
Wimbledon 2022Beat Kaja Juvan 7-5, 6-2 to reach the fourth round of a major for the first time

Every grass title: 1

Show every title, tournament by tournament
Wimbledon
2016 Mixed doubles with Henri Kontinen

Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions

"It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to be a Grand Slam champion."

Watson after winning the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles, reported by Team GB

Anecdotes

The person behind the player.

Guernsey to Florida

Twelve and abroad

She began playing at seven in Guernsey and at twelve moved to Florida to train and live at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.

Source: Bailiwick Express, 2016

Centre Court, 2015

Come on Heather

Against Serena Williams she broke for 3-0 in the third set as the crowd chanted "Come on Heather! You can do it!", and later served for the match. Williams came back to win 7-5 and said afterwards: "I honestly didn't think I was going to win."

Source: Irish Times; Sky Sports

London 2012

Overlooked

For the 2012 Olympic mixed doubles at Wimbledon she was passed over in favour of Laura Robson, who won silver with Andy Murray. Four years later she won the Wimbledon mixed title herself.

Source: Team GB, 2016

Wimbledon, 2016

Strangers to champions

She had wanted to play the French Open mixed with Henri Kontinen but her ranking was too low. At Wimbledon they played together for the first time and won. "Thanks for putting up with me!" she told him on court. "There was nothing to put up with," Kontinen replied.

Source: Sky Sports, 2016

Wimbledon, 2022

So happy

After beating Kaja Juvan to reach the fourth round of a major at last, she told the crowd: "First time in the fourth round, I am so happy!"

Source: LTA, 2022

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Elsewhere online

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Sources

Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.

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