Confident Konta sets sights on cracking top 10
JO KONTA can take another step towards making the world’s top 10 today when she faces a player who is already on her second career in the game.
Anastasija Sevastova, who Konta faces in the Arthur Ashe Stadium today, quit the sport three years ago because she was sick and tired of the injuries it was giving her.
Eighteen months after returning, she is in the fourth round of a Grand Slam, and the unlikely barrier between Konta and a second Grand Slam quarter final.
That would take Konta closer towards becoming the first British woman since Jo Durie to make the top 10, having proved that her startling progress of the last 12 months was no temporary surge.
It is even conceivable that the Eastbourne-based player could make the year-end WTA Championships in Singapore, open to the top eight performers of the season.
First she must get past the now world No 48 Sevastova, who has appeared in her path after knocking out French Open champion Garbine Muguruza.
A measure of how far both have come is that their only previous meeting was a firstround qualifying match at the 2013 Australian Open.
The British girl won that match in three tough sets, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 but went out in the next round so failed to reach the main event in Melbourne.
Not long after that match, the Latvian player, 26, decided that she had suffered enough.
“I had too many injuries. I was kind of not happy with my tennis,” she said. “It was hurting every time something different – back, arm, legs. And then I decided to just retire. I did some studying, played with kids in tennis, gave some lessons, studied some management.
‘It was strange. I didn’t find it that difficult to study but it made me go back to tennis.
‘I started to enjoy playing it a bit more. First I just did some training, it was fun, light stuff, club matches. Then I said OK, let’s try, let’s practise for a couple of months and we’ll try in the beginning of the year, see how it will go. It was not like I stopped completely doing anything physical.
‘I feel I think mentally stronger, more stable now. Bodywise, for sure. I’ve had some problems but it’s all under control. It’s OK.’
Konta’s swift rise is definitely the result of getting on top of the mental side of the game, because she always had plenty of physical ability. Her serve has been particularly strong here, and repeating her semi-final showing of the Australian Open is not out of the question.
Certainly, she was very impressive in her last match when she took just 52 minutes to despatch Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1. Madison Keys and Caroline Wozniacki, the latter finally rediscovering some form after a dismal season, are her potential quarter-final opponents and neither would be easy.
Matters might also be complicated by expected turbulent weather in the next two days, with New York fully expecting to be clipped by Tropical Storm Hermine.