THE top man in British tennis called Heather Watson an ‘outstanding prospect’ as the Guernsey star became the national under-16 singles champion. Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper was at the West Hants Tennis Club in Bournemouth, where 15-year-old Heather yesterday defeated top seed Laura Slater for the crown.

The Guernsey girl won the first set 6-1, before losing the second to her Surrey opponent 1-6.

But the Sarnian bounced back to take the decider 6-1. She was presented with the trophy by the former British number one Greg Rusedski.

Mr Draper said that parts of the thrilling match were the best he had seen for many years.

Past winners of the trophy – the Cochrane Plate – include Sue Barker in 1971 and Annabel Croft in the mid-80s and the victory follows Heather’s tremendous performance when the former Ladies’ College student reached the semi-finals of the under-18 singles.

‘Heather Watson has had an outstanding few weeks,’ said Mr Draper.

‘She was unlucky not to win last week’s under-18s. She’s played some great tennis and beaten some strong opposition.

‘Laura Slater is a great player. Particularly that first set was some of the best girls’ tennis we’ve seen here in probably a long time. I think Heather’s an outstanding prospect.’

Mr Draper is not one to mince his words. The former Sport England boss was brought into the LTA early last year to shake up an organisation that was in the doldrums.

He started by sacking performance director David Felgate and Britain’s Davis Cup captain Jeremy Bates. He was also behind bringing in Brad Gilbert to coach the country’s number one, Andy Murray, who has made great strides under the American.

Mr Draper was typically forthright in saying that Heather was approaching a crucial period as to whether she would make it as a professional player.

‘It’s a question of now taking it on to the next level,’ he said.

‘The next few years are going to be critical and it will be interesting to see how she copes with stepping up into the senior international arena.’

Mr Draper did not consider it surprising that Guernsey, with a population of just over 60,000, had produced a national tennis champion.

He pointed to the island’s rich squash heritage that saw Martine Le Moignan and Lisa Opie both in the world top three in the sport.

‘It’s not really ‘surprising’ if you’ve got the players and you’ve got good coaching programmes,’ he said,

‘It would be nice to think that Heather Watson could emulate Martine Le Moignan and Lisa Opie and put Guernsey on the map of international tennis.’