Konta faces SW19 sweat after Aegon fall agony

JOHANNA KONTA is a significant doubt for Wimbledon having withdrawn from the semi-finals of the Aegon International with a thoracic spine injury.

The 25-year-old was in tears after a heavy fall in which she hit her head and required a near 10-minute stoppage before resuming Thursday’s quarter-final victory over world No.1 Angelique Kerber.

She later insisted she had been given the allclear to continue competing in Eastbourne, against Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, but on yesterday pulled out because of the spine injury that requires rest.

Konta, the first British woman ranked in the world’s top 10 at Wimbledon since 1984, has been drawn to face Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei in the first round at SW19 on Monday but said: “For the next 24 hours I am just looking to be resting at home.

“No books, no screens. Just to try to sleep, I didn’t really sleep well last night, so I need to rest.

“I’m not thinking about Wimbledon, I just want to rest well and make sure I get my health back to the best place possible.

“I didn’t sleep too well but that’s normal after a fall. We left it as late as possible to see how things developed this morning, but just felt it wasn’t quite right.

“I made the decision to withdraw based on the fact I’m still quite sore through my thoracic spine and I’m just looking to make sure I really can recover in the best way possible.

“Next week is Wimble- don but I made this decision based on looking after my health, regardless of what tournament is coming up.

“It’s the upper back. It’s through the upper spine basically. I can move my neck.

“We’re not 100 per cent certain yet about the recovery time required Things will become clearer in the next 24 hours of how we manage things.”