Wimbledon: Heather Watson blasts Twitter trolls

Heather Watson reacts during her match against Daniela Hantuchova. Picture: PA

HEATHER Watson hopes her victory over Daniela Hantuchova yesterday has silenced her Twitter trolls as she aims to become the first British woman since Sue Barker to beat a current world No 1.

Watson had to deal with soaring temperatures on what was the hottest day in Wimbledon history as she secured a third- round meeting with Serena Williams tomorrow.

The Guernsey-raised 23 year-old defeated Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2 in 81 minutes on Court No 1 yesterday, where temperatures reached 35.7C.

Fellow British hopefuls Andy Murray, Aljaz Bedene and James Ward will hope to emulate Watson’s progress when they play their second-round matches today. Williams’ bid to win a calendar grand slam continues after her 6-4, 6-1 victory over Timea Babos. She looked forward to meeting Watson, who she described as “always smiling, she seems to be super sweet”.

But Watson has revealed she has endured cruel comments on Twitter from gamblers upset at defeats in a difficult injury-affected spell.

She labelled these trolls as “cowards” last night as she relished sharing the spotlight with Williams tomorrow. Watson has already guaranteed she will take home £77,000 from this year’s Championships.

“It’s become such a usual occurrence that it doesn’t really mean much to me,” she said. “These people, they’ve got no life. They’re just kind of cowards thinking they can say whatever they want on the Internet. They don’t understand that we are just people at the end of the day. It’s not nice at all. I don’t think they’d appreciate people saying that stuff to them. But what can you do. I don’t think you are going to be able to stop it.

She vowed to keep on using Twitter in spite of the baiting. “I keep posting. I really enjoy posting. It’s usually always positive when I win. It’s just when I don’t win.”