CAN KONTA BE A TRUE LOVED BRIT? Serena’s dressed to frill

EXPLOSIONS of cheers from Centre Court and from Henman Hill blew across to where the British No 1 was starting out. Andy Murray? No, Johanna Konta.

The disparity in national awareness of the two people could hardly have been more marked. Seating on No 1 Court was half-empty as Konta’s match started under grey skies. The cheers were drifting over from Murray’s supporters nearby as he secured safe passage into the second round.

Konta could walk down Regent Street unrecognised. Murray, by dint of his immeasurably more considerable deeds, cannot mingle in the crowds.

It is great to make it into the semi-finals of the Australian Open, as Konta did in January. But, in terms of wider acclaim among a home audience, the difference between succeeding there and doing it here is a world apart.

So it was no more than a polite ripple that greeted Konta, a lean 25-year- old who lives in Eastbourne, as she tried to beat Monica Puig and make it out of the first round at the fifth attempt.

And our top player, and the 16th seed, started well. She took the lead 3-1 in 23 minutes. But the temperature was dropping and even this quick work would not permit her to get the contest wrapped up before the rain started at 4.36pm. At this point Konta was leading 2-1 in the second set.

She was almost knocked over by the shorts-wearing army pulling the covers over the grass. It was the closest she came to discomfort in her brief on-court appearance.

Whether we will learn to love Konta depends on her development. But it has been impressive already: a wildcard here last year, she was then ranked 126th. Now she is 19th, having notched 20 wins in 23 matches last summer. She is the first British woman seeded here since Jo Durie in 1984.

British, though? She came here from Australia, where she was born to Hungarian parents. It was a brave move given she received no financial inducement to uproot. She is now a British citizen, articulate and well-mannered, even if she is liable to express her sporting progress in psycho-babble.

But that is all by the by. Her fame will depend on proving she is more than a flash in the pan.

“She would be unrecognised in Regent Street”