UNBEATABLE TO UNWATCHABLE
Konta blew her best chance to win a Major, wasting strong positions in both sets as familiar frailties crept in, but she insists: I’ve no regrets
JO KONTA claimed she had “no regrets” following her shocking French Open semi-final defeat by a Czech teenager. And after losing her third Grand Slam semi without winning a set, she insisted: “Even if I were to stop playing tomorrow, I have done a lot of great things in my career.” The British No.1 had a glorious chance to reach her first Major final against world No.38 Marketa Vondrousova. But Konta’s tennis was as leaden as the Paris sky as she committed 41 errors – 31 on her backhand – to be washed out 7-5 7-6 in the rain. She had never won a match at Roland Garros before reaching the last four here and this was a return to the old Konta – and her old mental frailties.
She won the first 10 points and had three points to claim the first set. She blew the first two horrendously with a wild drive volley and a tame backhand into the net. She also served for each set at 5-4, but was broken both times.
Chris Evert had called Konta “unbeatable” earlier in the tournament. At times yesterday she was painfully unwatchable.
She has lost her first two Grand Slam semis to Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams, but this time she was the strong favourite.
Yet her 19-year-old opponent showed more composure and a better bigmatch temperament. But Konta said: “I feel very, very comfortable and very assured in the fact that I did the best I could out there.
“I’m proud in how I tried to find a way out there. It just didn’t go my way.”
Asked if she had been affected by the wasted set points, Konta claimed: “It’s not that difficult, because I did the right thing. It was incredibly blustery out there.
“I took the opportunity to come in and take it out of the air and that’s what I would do nine times out of 10 and probably nine times out of 10 it would go in as well. But I definitely don’t regret anything I did out there.”
Konta had wanted to become the first British woman to win a Major since Virginia Wade in 1977. Instead, she is halfway to equalling Tim Henman and his unwanted record of losing six Grand Slam semi-finals.
Perhaps the comparison could be with Andy Murray, who lost four finals and six semifinals, before his Grand Slam breakthrough at the 2012 US Open.
“There is no reason why I can’t win a Grand Slam,” she added.
“I’m putting myself into positions to try to make that extra step and making it into a final. It’s either going to happen or it’s not.”