Konta had heart palpitations on court
JOHANNA Konta has revealed she suffered from heart palpitations in her first match since lockdown.
The British No.1 needed a medical timeout near the start of her 6-4 6-4 defeat to Marie Bouzkova at the Lexington Open in Kentucky.
Doctors checked her pulse and blood pressure and Konta was deemed fit to play out the remainder of the match.
She reveled afterwords that this was not the first time she had suffered from palpitations.
Konta said: “I’m fine, I sometimes have a heart palpitation and basically my heart rate shoots up for no reason,” she said.
“My heart rate goes up and it doesn’t go down, it stays there and it makes me light-headed and I just needed to see the doctor and physio to see where it was at, it was very, very high when they came out and then it is just a management thing.
“I think it has happened maybe four times, but it has happened twice in the last three months.
“It is something that we are keeping an eye on, I’ve had to have the heart checks and there is nothing wrong, I am fit as a fiddle, it is one of those things that can happen and I am susceptible for it to happen.”
Konta did reveal that heart palpitations were not what caused her collapse at the US Open and Fed Cup in recent years.
“This is the fourth time it has ever happened, the first time was in Birmingham in 2017, the second time was in Beijing in 2018 and the third time was in practice at home in London.
“I’ve had all the heart tests I could have possibly have and my heart is absolutely fine. So I am not worried about it, we are going to see what other protocols we can take to measure it.”