“Has sport’s last taboo been broken?” wondered commentators, after the 22-year-old described feeling “light-headed” and “low on energy,” putting it down to her period.
“We talk about sex quite openly, we talk about breast enlargements, we talk about so many things that people don’t even bat an eyelid about these days,” former British number one tennis player, Annabel Croft, told CNN.
“Yet this particular subject never gets discussed. And I can understand why — it’s a bit uncomfortable viewing isn’t it?” said the founder of her own line of leak-proof underwear called “Diary Doll.”
“But the fact that Heather said what she said in a very innocent, charming way, I think it made people think ‘wow’ this does happen to athletes at that particular time of the month.”
With the world’s media scrutinizing their every move, it often feels as though nothing is out of bounds when discussing the physical and mental conditions of elite athletes.
I think it's just one of these things that I have, girl things. It just happens
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So does that mean Watson has heralded a new era of openness among female athletes?
“What she has done is open up a world debate, and I think it will be easier to talk about it in the future because that subject has been broached now. I think it’s been quite groundbreaking,” said Croft.
“But whether or not a journalist is brave enough in a press conference to ask: ‘Did you lose today because you had your period?’ I’m not sure if that’s ever going to be the case.”
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