Dodgy knee tempers Johanna Konta’s expectations in Australian Open
Johanna Konta, in normal circumstances, would be the best British hope to go deep at the Australian Open but, having limped into town on one good knee, her immediate and longer-term prospects are as tough to read as the weather.
First-day focus will swing, inevitably, towards Serena Williams – who begins her pursuit of Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles when she plays the Russian Anastasia Potapova – and the defending champion, Naomi Osaka, who opens proceedings on Rod Laver Arena against Marie Bouzkova.
Konta’s ambitions will be the same as theirs but her capacity to deliver not quite so convincing. When Konta revealed on Friday she will not return to Fed Cup duty for Great Britain a week after this tournament, it sent out a signal there is work to do on her recovery – given her heroic efforts for the team last year.
The GB captain, Anne Keothavong, said: “It’s unfortunate Jo has decided to make herself unavailable this year. I had a productive conversation with her before Christmas when she explained what a difficult decision this was for her and her need to schedule smartly in 2020.”
The 12th seed, who has spent nearly four months getting fit after reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open, took a set off Barbora Strycova in Brisbane last week, having earlier pulled out of a tournament in Adelaide, and is short of a gallop. She admits she will go into her first-round match against Ons Jabeur still managing the pain that throbbed in her knee throughout 2019 – her most satisfying season on tour, paradoxically.
“I have had this knee injury since Brisbane last year, so I was playing with it the whole season,” she said. “I don’t think that will be a deciding factor. The body – and what we ask of it – is a reality of our sport, the length of our seasons and the demands of what we do when we go out on court to compete.
“I don’t take it for granted. My body may pack in one day but hopefully not and I am doing everything I can for it not to. Now I am looking forward to the whole season. This is just a part of it to get back to hopefully playing lots of matches back to back.”
Beyond Jabeur lie bigger challengers. Konta will probably have to beat the upwardly mobile Caroline Garcia for a crack at the departing Caroline – Wozniacki – if the Dane can launch her farewell grand slam in style; she plays the American Kristie Ahn first, while Konta could be lying in wait in the third round.
Having spent much of her youth in Australia, Konta is used to playing in heat, although conditions have transcended mere readings on the thermometer. She was involved in player council discussions with the tournament on Friday and is typically upbeat and phlegmatic – although she has memories still of collapsing on court when beating Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round at the US Open in 2016.
“It was more of a management of my gels and the amount of electrolytes I was taking … and not refuelling my body properly,” she said. “I have refined my methods since and, for a number of years, I haven’t had issues – touch wood. But we do ask a lot of the body, so who knows how it will respond.”
Katie Boulter, who took a lot of criticism – and first-round prize money – when she withdrew from last year’s French Open at the last minute, was feisty and stoic on her return to Melbourne, where she recalls fondly beating Ekaterina Makarova, sealed by winning the first third-set super tie-break, dramatically so, 10-6.
Explaining away her Parisian decision as inevitable given the amount of medical advice coming her way about her lower back problem, she preferred to look forward. Along with Heather Watson and Harriet Dart, Boulter will play on Tuesday – against the world No 5, Elina Svitolina.
Out for most of 2019, it is not a prospect that daunts the Leicester player. Nor are the lung-stifling conditions that have bothered so many players. “I think we need to keep this in perspective,” she said. “There are people who are losing their homes and their lives. This tournament, hopefully, is going to take place and maybe put a smile on their faces, to distract them from it. I’m sure the medical staff are doing the best that they can for the tournament. That’s all I can ask for.”