From Eastbourne To The World - Johanna Konta Hits The Heights

She's known as "Eastbourne's Johanna Konta" to many, particularly to people in the part of the world where the WTA converges for one of its most popular tournaments - a week of intense competition, and practice, in a contrastingly relaxed atmosphere - the week before the bustle of Wimbledon. The Aegon International.

And last year's Aegon International saw "local" girl Konta begin her incredible journey from a player ranked way below 100 in the world, who had rarely even played a top player, to where she is now, just a few months later - regularly beating players in the world's top 20, and even top 10; reaching the last 16 at two consecutive Grand Slams; about to be ranked in the world's TOP THIRTY; and reaching a Major Semi Final.


Konta celebrates winning through to the Australian Open Semi Finals
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/johanna-konta-of-great-britain-celebrates-winning-her-news-photo/507009742

Her brilliant run ends in the Semi Finals, to 7th seed Angelique Kerber
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/johanna-konta-out-of-australian-open-britons-run-comes-to-an-end-in-semi-final-against-angelique-a6838371.html

It's no surprise - and completely understandable - that many at the venue of her latest achievements, the Australian Open, were keen to point out that, although she's now proudly British number one, she was born in Sydney, trained at the Aussie Open site at Melbourne Park as a child, and represented Australia until 2012!

I first heard of her, shortly before she took UK citizenship in May 2012, via the editor of EastbourneTennis.com, a site I'd contributed articles to. At the time, she was ranked 208 in the world, and became British No 6. There was certainly a degree of excitement that a promising player, who'd just turned 21, and who had moved to the UK with her Hungarian parents in 2005, was now to play for Britain. Even more excitement that the Aegon International could have a hometown player, given that she's lived in Eastbourne for the last few years.

We couldn't, though, have predicted the success she would have that week in June last year, or that she would soon go on to have in other arenas around the world.
 

In Hometown Action at Eastbourne's Aegon International last year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/11693580/Wimbledon-2015-Johanna-Konta-and-Heather-Watson-gear-up-for-SW19-with-impressive-wins.html

On a sunny but cold Sunday evening, in the Main Draw's 1st round, the world number 139 took on the world number 34, Zarina Diyas, and won. The Eastbourne crowd was a little sparse, but from the Monday and Tuesday, it quickly became apparent that the Aegon International is one of the best attended tournaments, from early on in the week, that you can find. So there was a big crowd when she beat Ekaterina Makarova, then ranked world number eight, 6-2 6-4. Her first win over a top ten opponent - but not her last. 

It's perhaps fitting that it was Makarova (now ranked 24 after injury, but twice a Grand Slam semi finalist and a former Eastbourne champion) that she beat in the Australian Open 4th round, 4-6 6-4 8-6, to become the first British woman since Jo Durie (now one of the best tennis commentators out there), at Wimbledon 1984, to reach a Grand Slam quarter final.

Konta was expected to win the battle of surprise quarter finalists, playing world number 133 Shuai Zhang. So there was a lot more pressure, but she duly obliged - triumphing 6-4 6-1, to end another long British wait - this time the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam SEMI FINAL since the aforementioned Jo Durie, at the US Open in 1983.

Her glorious run finally came to an end at the hands of the Australian Open's 7th seed, Angelique Kerber (who, incidently, has twice been a runner-up at the Aegon International!), 7-5 6-2. But her achievements at this tournament have taken her astonishing progress over recent months to yet new heights, and will live long in the memory. And the memories, the emotions and the atmospheres are, she's said, what she takes most from her great matches over the past few months.

At Eastbourne, she followed up her Makarova win with another sensational victory, beating Garbine Muguruza, before succumbing, in 3 sets at the quarter final stage, to eventual champion Belinda Bencic.

On my twitter page, I'd become used to hashtag-ing "HometownWin". When Roger Federer recorded more of his own in Basel a few months later, I couldn't resist tweeting: "Another #HometownWin in #Basel for #Federer. Who does he think he is, #Eastbourne's Johanna #Konta or something?!"

Her run at Eastbourne's 2015 Aegon International provided an unexpected extra dimension to a tournament which was back to being WTA-only, after six years of being joined by the men. Traditionally attracting top female players for decades, the addition of an ATP event was not popular with all of the tournament's faithful fans. And it was a smaller ATP event and so struggled to attract the very highest ranked players of the day. But over the six years, it brought the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. Many were very disappointed to see the men's event go, particularly when the extension to the grass court season had raised hopes of more top names.

The week after Eastbourne, Konta played Maria Sharapova in the first round at Wimbledon, and came off second best. But then came a 16-match winning streak, taking titles at the ITF Circuit, the level just below the WTA Tour, qualifying for the US Open, and sensationally reaching the 4th round. Another incredible win over Muguruza (who now had "Wimbledon finalist" added to her list of achievements), followed by yet another top 20 scalp, Andrea Petkovic, saw her face twice Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova in the last 16, where she lost in 2 tight sets (7-5, 6-3).


Konta repeats her Eastbourne win over Garbine Muguruza with an epic triumph at the US Open
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3221354/British-world-No-97-Johanna-Konta-upsets-ninth-seed-Garbine-Muguruza-longest-Open-women-s-match.html

But the bubble had not been burst. A few weeks later she qualified for the Wuhan Open, reaching the quarter finals, where she lost to Venus Williams, from 5-3 up in the final set. But on the way she beat Petkovic again; Victoria Azarenka, who retired injured after Konta won the 1st set; and World No 2 Simona Halep, from 1-5 down in the final set. At that moment in time, it wasn't inconceivable to describe her as being in the hottest form of any female tennis player on the planet.

She probably didn't want her 2015 season to end, and 2016 started with two first round losses - in Shenzhen and Hobart. Now ranked high enough for automatic entry to these events, it was wondered whether she may have lost the competitive edge that playing your way through the qualifying of an event can give a player. 

But then came her Australian Open first round win over Venus. Playing one of the game's All Time Greats, now back in the world's top ten, was an incredibly tough draw. She was certainly aided by Venus being hampered with a heavily strapped thigh, but the positive power hitting and mental resolve, that few of us had expected in such abundance from Konta, was again clear for all to see.
 


Konta beats Venus Williams - who made her British tournament debut in Eastbourne in 1997 - in first round of Australian Open 2016
http://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/31851/10136038/johanna-konta-knocks-venus-williams-out-of-australian-open

Last Saturday's 3rd round win over Denisa Allertova, the opponent she lost to in the 1st round of the French Open last May, indicated sharply just how far Johanna Konta has come since then. In that match she missed a lot of chances in an epic tussle. Many pundits said that this was all too typical of Konta's play in the previous 2 or 3 years. She had ups and downs, made the 2nd round of the US Open in 2012, closed in on the top 100, been tipped as a potential top 50 player, but hadn't managed to string the results together.

So what's changed? And where will she go from here? Will this prove to be her career peak? Or could she become a player like, for example, her semi final conqueror? Angelique Kerber made a similarly swift leap in the rankings a few years ago, and although she's suffered some dips in form, has become a fully-fledged member of the game's Elite.

According to Konta, the work on her psychology with Juan Coto, one of a trio of hugely influential Spaniards in her coaching team (led by Esteban Carril and Jose-Manuel Garcia) has been a major factor in her astounding improvement. She strongly credits this team for sticking with her after her LTA funding was cut.

She is now, she says, far less anxious on court, and in a fascinating interview with Donald McRae of The Guardian last October, she described how she "had to dig deep and find where my happiness comes from... The biggest part of the learning curve is accepting the lows and not getting too caught up in the highs either. Results come and go, tournaments come and go." Did everything suddenly click into place for her? "No. I really don't believe in that click moment. I believe in the process."  

She says "The Process" are, for her, the key words.