The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Konta required to memorise tactics, reveals coach Fissette
Johanna Konta’s coach Wim Fissette has revealed how he makes the British No 1 learn tactics off-by-heart and recite them before her matches at Wimbledon.
No player in the women’s draw has won a higher percentage of first sets this year than Konta, who in nine grand slam ties has lost the opening frame just once.
That was against Serena Williams at the Australian Open in January and even in her shock French Open loss to Su-wei Hsieh, Konta blitzed the first set 6-1.
Her fast starts are no fluke. Konta is prepared meticulously for her opponents by Fissette and expected to commit every detail of her game-plan to memory.
It means in the minutes before she walks out on Court One today to face Caroline Garcia in the last 16, Konta will be reciting her strategy.
“What we do at Wimbledon is I text her the game plan the night before and she reads it. It’s quite a long message,” Fissette told Press Association Sport.
“There are tactical messages but also some mental messages of what I feel is important that day.
“Twenty minutes before the match she starts to warm up, which is quite intense, but five minutes before she goes out on court she repeats the messages back to me.
“She recites her intentions for the match and if something is missing I tell her she has forgotten it, especially if it’s something important.
“You could say it is like a little exam and maybe a bit unusual but when she is 100% clear about her intentions, that is when Jo plays her best matches.
“There are matches sometimes when I feel she is not completely clear and that is when it gets tough.”
The routine sounds intense but Fissette’s pep-talks are rarely designed to fire Konta up.
The Belgian has worked with Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka, Sabine Lisicki and Simona Halep in the past, but says Konta likes to keep things light.
“We all tell jokes. Everybody is different,” Fissette said.
“When I worked with Azarenka, two hours before her match she is completely in her zone. In that time, we are definitely not talking anymore.”
Former champion Lindsay Davenport, meanwhile, believes Jelena Ostapenko is heading into the second week of Wimbledon with the same fearless style which won her the French Open.
The 20-year-old Latvian, the surprise winner at Roland Garros last month, faces Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina today for a place in the quarter-finals.
The American, a winner at SW19 in 1999, has been impressed with the 13th seed’s attitude on her All England Club debut.
“Most people have nerves but to play that high-risk style, and with so little margin, to be able hit those shots in is so tough,” said Davenport.
“She has the belief, she is obviously very confident in herself and to showcase it on that (French Open) stage was nice, and I liked how she has fought through the first few rounds here.”
Another player going along nicely in a wide-open draw is American Coco Vandeweghe, the American 24th seed coached by Pat Cash who is increasingly being tipped as a potential winner.
Vandeweghe has yet to drop a set and faces a thus far unconvincing Caroline Wozniacki, who has never been past the fourth round at the All England Club.
The last two Wimbledon runners-up – who both lost to Serena Williams – will meet when top seed Angelique Kerber, last year’s beaten finalist, takes on Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
Second seed Simona Halep faces two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and five-time SW19 queen Venus Williams, now 37, meets Ana Konjuh of Croatia. 2012 runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska meets seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.