Konta thrilled to get competitive juices flowing in battling victory
JOHANNA Konta fought back from a set and three games down to win 2-6 7-6 10-6 against Katie Boulter on the second day of the Battle of the Brits tournament in Roehampton.
British No.1 Konta, 14th in the world rankings, bounced back after her straight-sets defeat to Jodie Burrage on Monday with an impressive comeback victory.
Boulter, fresh off the back of her Progress Tour final triumph, took an early 4-1 lead in the first before going on to take the set.
The second appeared to be going the same way as the first, but Konta (below) fought her way back from three games down to go 4-3 up in the second, eventually taking the set and forcing the deciding tie-break.
The 29-year-old then carried her form into the decider, powering her way to a 5-1 lead. Although Boulter managed to close the gap to 7-4, it eventually finished 10-6 in favour of Konta.
The pair usually play alongside each other at events, but Konta said it was easy to put the camaraderie aside for the tournament.
Konta said: “I think you put that aside a little bit. Just last week we were just playing practice sets here.
“It’s not necessarily what it would feel like if we would be at a Grand Slam or at a WTA event.
“But I think more than anything it’s just to give both of us the chance to bring those competitive juices to the front, pretend we’re somewhere else and just bring some good tennis.
“She started very well, but I felt like I was able to come to the party a bit as the match went on and I thought by the end we were playing some great tennis.
“I think it was similar to yesterday for me, these are my first three-quarter competitive matches since the beginning of March so it’s going to take time and I think, more than anything, I just gave myself a chance to start playing better. In both matches I was in a good mindset, but especially today I just kept staying there each point.”
Also yesterday, World No.77 Cameron Norrie beat Jan Choinski 6-4 6-3 while Liam Broady saw off Anton Matusevich 6-1 2-6 12-10 on the match tie-break.
DO something week after week, year after year, decade after decade and it’s easy to allow yourself to take it for granted. After a scarcely believable 776 games in Ballymoney colours, a heart attack weeks before his club’s Mccambley Cup triumph three years ago taught John Waide that even life’s seeming constants are never guaranteed.
Now club president, these past months have taught many similarly dedicated club stalwarts the same harsh lesson.
With four adult sides and a 200-strong minis section that first nurtured the talents of Ulster’s Stewart Moore, wander down the path to Kilraughts Road on any given Saturday afternoon and, weather-permitting, action could be found, a weekend staple for generations of families in the small County Antrim town.
In the second tier of the junior game in Ulster, it was only back in December that it was standing room only in the clubhouse for a festive derby with local rivals Coleraine, adjoining committee rooms required to accommodate all those seeking their place at the pre-match lunch.
With the club chasing promotion, busy sidelines peppered with a healthy number of the same regulars there week after week come rain or shine had become a fixture.
One Thursday back in March,atanhourwhenmanya kitbag had already been packed for that evening’s training, one phone call changed all that. Covid-19 stopped rugby at all levels dead in its tracks. In Ballymoney’s case, the season was over. There was to be no promotion and when it came to when those same crowds would next assemble at Kilraughts Road, there was no certainty.
“Obviously when the cancellations started, we were probably looking at a play-off to get in the league above and that was the worry,” recalled Waide.
“As soon as it became obvious how serious everything was, that all changed. It becomes a bit of an emergency and it was a huge concern.
“We had to look at saving money wherever we could.”
A committee was quickly set up, meeting over Skype, to slash costs to a minimum. The heating system was shut down and anything that could be powered down was switched off at the wall. Members bought stock from the bar that otherwise would have sat gathering dust, but the biggest concern was to be ground maintenance as deals with contractors had to be cancelled. Volunteers filled the void.
Indeed, with Ulster Rugby similarly at a standstill, even Moore was back, pitching in with the grass-cutting efforts.
After nearly 40 years around the club, Waide was surprised to see the sense of community come to the fore.
“It’s a small club, but it’s close knit, a family-driven club. You see the community spirit within the club, there’s a real sense of belonging. We’d have young fellas in the first
XV now that I remember starting in the minis 10 years ago,” he said.
“So everyone comes together, whether that be with volunteers around the ground or even just checking in with some of our more senior members to make sure they’re not isolated.”
The immediate financial dangers averted as best they could, the next step was to focus on how best to ensure a safe return to play when the time came. Ian Frizzell, another boasting an association with the club that stretches back decades andby day runs his own health and safety consultancy business, was named Covid-19 safety officer. Described as “a godsend” by Waide, he was tasked with digesting directives from the IRFU and Ulster Branch before ensuring the grounds were ready to welcome back players and, ultimately down the track, spectators too.
“Health and safety, it’s what I’ve been doing the past 14 years,” said Frizzell. “The main thing for me was to get the guys onto the pitch but players, coaches, parents, guardians, clubhouse staff, everything andeverybodyhastobe covered from the second they come onto our premises.
“That has meant things like signage, one-way systems, no access to the clubhouse and just following those instructions from the IRFU to the letter, the same sorts of measures that you’ve been seeing elsewhere in recent weeks.”
As such, when players returned to training for the first time in over four months last week, installations such as touchline sinks and disinfecting stations dotted around the pitch, as well as plenty of paperwork, reminded that this was no return to normality and yet the process was markedly smoother than had been expected.
Coach Jonny Hanna, scorer of the winning try 10 years ago when the club tasted Towns Cup glory, said: “We were expecting a bit more disruption, to be honest.
“And I think that when the guys arrived, seeing everything that the club had put in place, they were content that it was safe too.
“We’ve had 40 players out for training so far, with six new players in that bunch, so it’s