Andy Murray has urged Heather Watson to play with a swagger as she prepares to take on Serena Williams at Wimbledon.
Watson and the five-time champion are scheduled on Centre Court for their third round clash on Friday and fellow British number one Murray admits it will be tough for the 23-year old.
Watson claimed her first win over a top ten player when she beat Agnieskza Radwanska earlier this year but an in-form Williams on the manicured lawns of her beloved All England Club is a very different prospect.
“Serena is probably the biggest test in tennis right now,” said Murray. “I saw a little bit of Serena’s second round match and she looked extremely motivated from the beginning. I think in some of the matches at the French Open, it didn’t appear that way.
“However, she looked pretty fired up the other day, so it’s going to be an extremely difficult match for Heather. She’s going to have the crowd with her and she has to try to use that to her advantage, try not to be intimidated. She need to just go out there and give it a go.
“I’m not going to go into tactics or anything. But she needs to go out there, really go for it, try not to let Serena dictate and hopefully she can serve well. That will make a big difference.”
Murray and Watson are joined in the third round by James Ward, as the world number 111 produced an impressive performance to defeat the world number 45 Jiri Vesely 6-2 7-6 3-6 6-3 and set up a match with world number 28 Fabio Fognini.
Ward is a regular training partner for Murray and the pair’s close relationship has been further forged by their efforts in the cause of Great Britain’s Davis Cup team.
“He’s won a couple of good matches. Vesely is a tough opponent and it was a good win for him today. He has an opportunity again in the third round,” said Murray
“Obviously the draw opened up because he was due to play David Ferrer in the first round, which is an extremely difficult draw.
“Then playing a lucky loser in the first round, he’s taken advantage of the opportunity that he’s had at a very important time for him because he hadn’t won so many matches lately. After here, he’s quite a lot of points to defend and it was very important for him to capitalise on that.”
© Sportsbeat 2015
