DID you watch it? The tennis that is, ‘our Hev’s’ first-round singles match against the wily Romina Oprandi.

The Italian might have appeared to come straight out of casualty but she turned out to have a little too much guile and touch for our local heroine.

As I suggested last weekend, we should not be surprised that Heather lost. She still has the professional L-Plates on.

She may be the US Junior Open winner but that alone does not provide divine entry into the upper echelons of the game where the big girls strut their stuff.

The figures prove that it helps to have been around longer. The Guardian came up with some very revealing stats last weekend.

While in 1990 the average age of a top-20 woman player stood at 21.6, the figure 20 years later had edged up to 26.4.

That is a significant difference and the reason, they suggest, is that the older players are extending their careers to take advantage of the far greater monetary rewards.

Lindsay Davenport, the former world No. 1 and three-times Grand Slam event winner, reckoned that the more athletic nature of tennis favoured some players later in their development.

‘They’re stronger, faster, not just blessed with phenomenal skills,’ she said, while adding: ‘It’s nice to see some players in their 30s because players I grew up with pretty much all retired in their 20s.’

Clearly, Heather has much to learn, not least to make the most of advantageous situations which she failed to do on Tuesday.

Oprandi won the match with her head and the capacity to play a superb dink drop shot.

But our girl will surely add variety to her game with experience, and when that happens the result will not be a first-round exit.

IT’S some weeks since the island’s Commonwealth Games team for Delhi was announced and, due to a few eligibility issues, it is still being tinkered with.

It could rightly be argued that it is the most powerful team we have ever sent to – what an old friend watching last weekend’s Intertrust Golden Series event inadvertently stepped back in time to refer to – as the British Empire Games.

I am not unsure, though, whether some on the plane to India in late September, are quite up to the challenge of an event which is far and above higher in standard than the Island Games.

Indeed, I am deeply concerned at the form being shown by some heading to the sub-continent and wonder, now the team has been chosen, if there is any ongoing review of the individuals selected?

Any wholly proper selection process should take into question current form and for the individual to show evidence of that form which got them in the frame in the first place.‘While in 1990 the average age of a top-20 woman player stood at 21.6, the figure 20 years later had edged up to 26.4’‘I am deeply concerned at the form being shown by some…’