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Heather Watson's French Open first-round match postponed
- Author, Piers Newbery
- Role, 91热爆 Sport at Roland Garros
Heather Watson's first-round match at the French Open has been postponed for a day because of rain.
The British number two was due to play her first competitive match since recovering from glandular fever.
The 21-year-old will now face Switzerland's Stephanie Voegele at 10:00 BST on Wednesday in Paris.
Watson remains Britain's sole representative in the singles draw after Elena Baltacha lost 6-3 6-0 to New Zealand's Marina Erakovic.
"If I wasn't ready, I wouldn't have come - but I really didn't want to miss the French," said Watson last week.
"I wanted to play Strasbourg last week but I just wouldn't have been ready for that one."
She added: "I probably feel about 90-95% at the moment.
"I still have a few things with sleeping, I'm finding it tough at the moment, but that's how it happens and it will slowly get better and better.
"(The decision to come back) was on how I felt and if I thought I was ready and had the energy to do it."
Watson, who turned 21 on Sunday, traced the beginning of her physical issues back to December.
After back-to-back defeats in Indian Wells and Miami in March, she took a blood test and was found to have glandular fever.
"It was so much of a relief," she said. "I'd had it for months before and had no idea why I was so tired and all these things were happening to me, why I was having fevers, a terrible sore throat. I was at the point where I was like, 'What is wrong with me?'"
Complete rest was required, with no timescale for recovery, and Watson headed home to Guernsey.
"Some days I felt awful and I just couldn't get out of bed," she said.
"I was so worried because I know quite a lot of people have had it - even people now on Tour are getting it. It's quite common.
"I've known people to be out for a year, two years. Robin Soderling is still out, I'm lucky and I've been able to recover from it."
Watson has been practising for three weeks but the concern remains over exactly when to return to competitive action, as coming back too early could worsen the condition.
She considered skipping Paris and waiting another two weeks for the grass-court season in the UK, but insisted she expects to perform on the clay.
"I still want to go out and win the matches and do well," she said. "I'm not going to use it as an excuse. I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't ready."
Watson has slipped from a career-high of 39 in the rankings in March to her current position of 50.
Laura Robson is now the British number one at 35 in the world, but Watson is determined to regain top spot.
"I don't want to settle for being number two," she said. "I'm always going to try and be British number one.
"I haven't looked at the rankings the whole time, I don't even know what my ranking is now, and I don't want to look at it for the next couple of weeks.
"I just want to focus on getting better and getting my game back."