ANYONE FOR TENNIZ ?
Jo Konta looks like she’s dropping off as she loses at the Australian Open in a match which finished at 3.12am!
Absurd and dramatic. Jo Konta’s Australian Open hopes came to an end at 3.12am after an agonising defeat that threatened to run towards breakfast time.
delayed in part because an alternative court was covered in seagull droppings, the british No 1’s early hours shift came to nothing when she was beaten 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 by former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.
It had been the latest starting match in tournament history, getting under way at 12.30am, but the quality on show from both players belied the ridiculous hour at which they were asked to play.
A little bit of Australian Open folklore will not be much consolation to Konta. More comforting will be the fact that this was her best performance since Wimbledon 2017.
she later questioned the surreal scheduling at an event that is tennis’s answer to the Le Mans 24-hour race — and it was certainly no time to send out two athletes to perform. That they reached such a high level was a tribute to their professionalism.
‘It wasn’t ideal for anyone,’ said Konta. ‘I don’t think it’s ideal for anyone to do any physical activity when it’s bedtime. I don’t think it is healthy — in fact it is quite dangerous. but both of us were in the same boat.’
The ludicrous timing was caused by a series of matches in Margaret Court Arena going the distance, and at one point the outside Court No 3 was being prepared as an alternative venue. The organisers could have acted sooner.
‘Once (the preceding) Zverev and Chardy match went to a fifth set, we were actually going to go out to Court 3 to start, but there was basically seagull poo everywhere,’ Konta explained.
‘They had to clean the court and by the time they would have cleaned the court, it would have taken 10-15 minutes and we were in the same boat anyway.
‘Ideally, both of us would have wanted to play earlier — this is no one’s ideal schedule to play in the wee hours of the morning — but we don’t make the schedule and we both dealt with the same challenge. I think it was a high level in general, both of us played really well. I think she started better than I did, but then I think I did a good job of raising my level to make it a competitive match.
‘It’s more important to focus on the level of the match and it was unfortunate that more people couldn’t enjoy it during the day.’
While it was the latest starting contest, it was not the one that finished deepest into the early hours. That accolade still belongs to Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos baghdatis, who in 2008 got off court at 4.33am.
by becoming the final secondround match to finish, Konta at least stretched out british participation in the singles at the season’s first Grand slam, which came to an end when Muguruza found some piercing returns to seize the moment when a deciding tiebreak looked inevitable.
Eight Gb players started in the main draw, a healthy enough number, but this is the fourth major in succession in which no british singles player has gone beyond the middle saturday.
Konta deserves no censure for that, because for guts and application this had echoes of Andy Murray’s attempted comeback over on the Melbourne Arena on Monday night. It suggests she will have a rebound season.
Around 1,000 hardy souls were dotted around the arena, including a couple of locals who had clearly been imbibing most of the evening and were eventually escorted out. Muguruza set out to hit the ball as hard as she could, and while she can be erratic her depth and power were impressive in the first set.
she broke in the first game and although Konta responded in fine fashion the spaniard held on, saving a break back point at 3-4.
With both players continuing to pulverise the ball and the crowd thinning the purposeful Konta began to look the more threatening, but she hit a
forehand marginally wide on the break point she created at 2-1 in the second set. Konta looked the more secure player going into the tiebreak, which was interrupted at 1-1 for the roof to be entirely closed to keep out a rain shower. It hardly put her off and she lifted her game thereafter, taking it 7-3 as the time hit 2.20am. The clock had struck three as they duelled their way to 4-4, both players unyielding and Konta playing better than she has done since reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon 18 months ago. It was a cruel way to end when Muguruza found some big returns at 5- 6, winning a match that neither participant deserved to lose.