Dentist’s daughter who polished up her game to become British No1
FIVE years ago, a young Jo Konta made her first cautious steps on to Wimbledon’s Court 17 as a ‘wildcard’ outsider. A U2 obsessive who drove an old Peugeot 208 hatchback, she was ranked 212 in the world – and duly lost to American Christina McHale in the first round. ‘It was a painful loss,’ she said at the time. ‘But I am taking all the positives from it.’
And indeed, she did. For that unhappy defeat demonstrates just how much has changed for the ambitious 26-year-old, who became a British national in 2012.
Having stormed into the second week of Wimbledon, British No 1 Miss Konta finds herself a firm 5-1 favourite to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish next weekend, as Britain’s best female tennis hopeful since Virginia Wade four decades ago.
She no longer drives the Peugeot – it was replaced with a sporty red number by her sponsor, Jaguar, last year.
It marks a stunning rise in fortunes for the notoriously guarded sportswoman who has admitted to struggling with the idea of fame and who was not an obvious star on the junior circuit.
Success, it seems, has come thanks to a naturally competitive spirit and impeccable attention to detail – an essential element in an individual sport known for its ruthlessness.
Born in Sydney to Hungarian parents, Miss Konta enjoyed a middle-class upbringing. Her father Gabor, a hotelier, and mother Gabriella, a dentist, met in the Australian city after both had emigrated separately.
Sporting talent runs in the family – one of Miss Konta’s grandfathers played football for Hungary during the 1950s, and her older sister Eva is married to professional Australian Rules player Shane Mumford.
Miss Konta’s burgeoning talent was first recognised when she began playing tennis in an after-school club when she was eight, already citing Maria Sharapova as her idol. At 11, she was scouted by Pete McCraw, the women’s coach for Tennis Australia, who selected her as part of an elite squad of 24. Under-developed physically, and jostled by the other girls, she was said to show incredible mental maturity.
McCraw recalls: ‘She would ask a lot of questions – all the best players ask why they are doing things.
‘The thing that stands out was how meticulous she was.
‘It became a bit of a joke that there would be a queue for the bathroom as she would take a lot of time cleaning her teeth, because her mum is a dentist.’
Despite her early promise, Miss Konta’s first games on the junior circuit were not filled with glory. And her career nearly ended before it began after Tennis Australia had its funding cut – and Miss Konta did not make the pick of girls chosen for further support.
This prompted her parents to up sticks back to Europe. Miss Konta went first, training initially at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, before joining her family in London in 2006 and later settling in Eastbourne.
Money must have been tight – a county court order was taken out against Miss Konta’s parents for non-payment of fees while she was at the Sutton Tennis Academy in Surrey.
But Miss Konta is more than paying back her parents’ sacrifice.
In April, she won her biggest prize to date – beating Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Miami Open to pocket £937,000. A proportion of that cheque went directly to her parents, with much of the remainder spent on her support staff, led by Belgian coach Wim Fissette.
Miss Konta is resolutely unshowy. There is her low profile on social media, her refusal to answer questions about her private life, and the fact that her previous partner, believed to be former coach Kether Clouder, was cryptically referred to only as ‘The Boyfriend’.
Questions about her rumoured new boyfriend, photographer Jackson Wade, have also been expertly volleyed.
She is described by interviewers as ‘shy’ and, more unkindly, as ‘clinical’.
Even Andy Murray has encouraged her to show a more emotional side on the court to harness the support of the crowd.
Whether that will play out during tomorrow’s match against Caroline Garcia, of France, remains to be seen.