The life of a professional tennis player is littered with peaks and troughs.
One minute, a player is on top of the world, like Victoria Mboko was recently after defeating Coco Gauff at the Canadian Open.
In contrast, players can go through periods of poor form or tough results, like Jannik Sinner did when losing the French Open final to Carlos Alcaraz.
One player, a former British number one, was competing in the Cincinnati Open qualifying this week, hoping to qualify for the main draw and have a shot against some of the best players the WTA Tour has to offer.
Unfortunately for this player, they fell at the first hurdle.
Heather Watson loses in the first round of Cincinnati Open qualifying
Heather Watson, a product of the Nick Bollitieri Academy in Florida, was hoping to make an impact at this year’s Cincinnati Open.
However, she faced 13th seed Anastasia Vladimirovna Zakharova in the first round. The former British number one lost to the Russian player 2-6 3-6.
Watson, former world number 38, has struggled on the WTA Tour over the last two months. She has not won a WTA Tour singles match since the Eastbourne Open in June.
The 33-year-old has put together a career to be proud of. However, at 33 years of age, her time may now be limited on the WTA Tour.
Watson has seen her ranking slip to 159 in the world, meaning she will most likely be forced to enter the qualifying rounds for the US Open.
A decade ago, Heather Watson was at the peak of her powers, beating the likes of Agnieszka Radwanska at the 2015 Indian Wells tournament. Just one year later, she claimed her maiden Grand Slam title.
Heather Watson’s Wimbledon title
In 2016, Heather Watson teamed up with Henri Kontinen in the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles event.
The pair were fortunate to receive walkovers in the first two rounds, avoiding second seeds Bruno Soares and Elena Vesnina.
Watson and Kontinen took full advantage, only dropping one set for the rest of the tournament.
| Round | Result |
| One | W/O against Denis Kudla and Louisa Chirico |
| Two | W/O against Bruno Soares and Elena Vesnina |
| Three | bt Leander Paes and Martina Hingis 3-6 6-3 6-2 |
| Quarter-finals | bt Scott Lipsky and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 6-2 |
| Semi-finals | bt Oliver Marach and Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 6-3 |
| Final | bt Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Gronefeld 7-6 6-4 |
After defeating two legends, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis, Watson and Kontinen comfortably defeated American-Russian duo Scott Lipsky and Alla Kudryavtseva in the quarter-finals.
They then defeated future French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and her partner Oliver Marach in the semi-final, before coming through a tight contest in the final against Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Gronefeld.
