Rally the fans,Jo

COACH WANTS KONTA TO SHOW PASSION AND FIRE UP HOME CROWD

JO KONTA has turned down her coach’s call to break her racket in fury on the court.

But Wim Fissette still wants the Wimbledon favourite to show more passion and get the crowd on her side against France’s Caroline Garcia in the fourth round today.

Andy Murray has told his fellow British No.1 to sometimes leave her Zen-like zone and encourage the home fans to cheer her on to glory.

And in a rare insight into the mentality of the No.6 seed before potentially the biggest week of her life, the Belgian coach revealed: “Her mental side is one of her strengths and I say we have to keep using it and have to be aware of staying positive out there.

“We all know Johanna is very focused on her mental state and she’s trying to stay in a neutral one. You will never see her very negative or very positive on the court.

“In Miami, I asked her: ‘You always stay quite neutral, even when things are going not really well? Maybe it’s better to break a racket once in a while and get the frustrations out and then you can continue. You don’t have to do it all the time but maybe once.’

“And she said: ‘I have experience in the past that it’s something that is not helping me, not a negative way.’ But using more positive body language is something that is helping her, like screaming after a really good point or showing her fists.”

Konta, who went on to win in Miami, is now the 9-2 favourite to win her first Major title after defeats for Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova – and her epic three-set win over Donna Vekic.

But Fissette added: “I think she can still do that more to use the support of the fans, of feeling the energy of the fans. I’m 100 per cent sure that using the fans in the right way can help you.”

Konta and Garcia are 2-2 in their matches but the world No.22 won their last meeting in Indian Wells after a third-set tie-break in March.

“She beat her quite a few times in the past,” said Fissette. “She has got to be confident.”