Heather Watson has appointed South Africa’s John-Laffnie de Jager as her coach following her split from Diego Veronelli.
The Brit formally ended her work with the Argentine coach in the summer after both parties came to an amicable agreement. Since the Wimbledon championships, Watson has only been able to win one main draw match on the tour as she struggles with illness. Her latest blow occurred at the Wuhan Open where she was forced to retire during the first round due to feeling unwell after previously winning two rounds of qualifying.
“I am not feeling great, I have gastrointestinal pains, basically I have got a stomach bug and it is impossible to compete at a good level when you feel like that in the first place let alone in the heat and when you are playing such a tough player.” She said about her Wuhan retirement.
“It is frustrating, especially because I had a couple of matches under my belt and I was starting to feel good on court, so it is a shame this happened but there is nothing I can do.”
As Watson bids to regain the form which took her to her third WTA title in Mexico earlier this year, the world No.76 has said that the inclusion of Jager is currently only for a trial period.
“My new coach arrives today,” Watson said. “We were talking after the US Open and just putting plans in place.
“This is the earliest we could start working together. He is full-time but this will be a trial period to see how it goes because we are just getting to know each other.”
43-year-old Jager is a former doubles specialist, who was a runner-up at two grand slam tournaments in the mixed doubles. During his career, he peaked at a ranking high of 11th in 2000. Since retiring, Jager was the captain of the South African Davis Cup team before resigning is 2015 due to conflicts with his country’s tennis association. He has also worked with Australian player Ajla Tomljanović, who has missed most of this season due to injury.
