Heather in action during the US Open. (PA Wire)

Admittedly this is not the typical place where you would expect to encounter sporting excellence, but I had just received a phone call from Ian Watson, the father of tennis starlet Heather, who was playing in the US Junior Open.

Trying to contend with some tribute band knocking out The Killers’ ‘Human’ at level 11, I couldn’t hear a word he was saying, so I had to leave my drink behind and take the call outside.

Ian was clearly excited and he had very good reason to be so.

Bad weather in New York had forced the tournament indoors from Flushing Meadows and the 17-year-old Sarnian had had to play twice that day.

He rang to inform me that Heather had first beaten Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the quarter-finals before going on to get the better of Daria Gavrilova in the semi-finals.

Of course, Watson went on to win the final the next day when she got the better of another Russian Yana Buchina.

But this was not my highlight.

The highlight was her victory over Lertcheewakarn.

The Thai was the world number two at the time and had won Junior Wimbledon earlier on in the summer, having lost in the final at the hands of British sensation Laura Robson the year before.

Watson had also lost to her before, in the quarters of the 2008 US Junior Open.

It was a different story this year.

Watson had had a lean time leading up to the tournament.

She had been defeated in the first round of the French Junior Open in May before very disappointingly being dumped out of the opening round of Junior Wimbledon by Valeria Solovieva.

I have to admit that doubts were creeping into my mind as to whether Watson would make the grade.

So when she turned up to the US Junior Open, I was not expecting much.

I certainly did not expect her to get past Lertcheewakarn, who was one of the big names in world junior tennis.

However, when Ian informed me that his daughter had absolutely cruised to victory 6-2, 6-1, for the first time, and I have to put up my hand for this, I really thought that she could make it as a professional.

In my eyes it was a turning point.