Jo happy in a place where the Tweets havenoname
JO Konta stands on the edge of greatness today as she aims to become the first British woman since Virginia Wade in 1977 to reach a Wimbledon singles final.
But, according to the No.6 seed, reaching the last four at SW19 is nothing compared to receiving a tweet from her favourite band U2. Konta is a devotee of Bono, The Edge and the rest of the boys and was made up when they got in touch recently to wish her good luck after she had to cancel her plans to see the Irish rockers at Twickenham on middle Sunday.
Konta will now go and take in the gig on their home turf of Dublin instead. “I haven’t been that active on social media but I did see that and I did reply,” said Konta.
“There was a massively fan-girling moment. It was pretty intense at home. I may have shrieked and giggled and ran around in circles for a couple of minutes but I played it pretty cool after.
“I think when U2 tweets you, you know that your life is pretty much made. My favourite song is Where The Streets Have No Name – because it just feels like such an epic song but honestly I listen to very many songs from U2, not specifically just that one. I am definitely loving that one.”
Like most top sportspeople, Konta’s Hungarian parents are putting the hard yards in behind the scenes. While her mum Gabriella gets too nervous to attend the venue, perhaps the calmest man in the stadium as she has won those nerve-shredding encounters against Donna Vekic, Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep has been her dad Gabor.
“My mum doesn’t really watch,” said Konta. “She watches from away. She gets very nervous so she is never in the stadium. But she is always watching on TV or a screen somewhere. You will have to ask the people my dad is sitting next to, to know what he is like. I think he is probably still trying to crack jokes. He is a champ.”
Konta’s first Grand Slam semi-final came against Angelique Kerber in Australia but she feels she is a better player now. She may need to be against an in-form five-times champion Venus Williams.
“I don’t think I can quantify it but I like to think that I have improved,” she said. “I like to think that I have become that much more resilient and experienced between than semi final and now.
“I’ve been very fortunate with the amount of great matches that I’ve played and the fact that I’ve got to play on every single massive stage there is in our sport.
“I feel very excited by that and I’m hoping to use that experience come Thursday. But there is no magic potion, I promise you. I approach every single opponent the same. I always look to prepare the best that I can for the opponent I have on the day.”