Jo Konta on why she has her eyes on the prize this summer

The British women’s number one explains why her parents moved continents to support their daughter's tennis career

“Tennis unique,” says Johanna Konta, the 27-year-old British women’s number one. “It’s gladiatorial — albeit without the physical contact.”

And Konta has certainly shown her fighting spirit this year. Following her narrow defeat by world number two Caroline Wozniacki at Eastbourne last week (it went to three sets), yesterday she eked out a win in her first-round match at Wimbledon against the Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva, requiring a sixth match point to beat the 21-year-old and progress towards a third-round game against former world number four Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Still, Konta’s eyes are firmly on the prize. Does she think she can go all the way?

“To get to a final is always a privilege,” she says. “As players and competitors we work to get to the end of tournaments.”

That said, there are other stages she has her eyes set on. When I spoke to her over the phone from Eastbourne — where Konta also lives — ahead of Wimbledon, she was refreshingly open about her life outside tennis. “I always thought I’d be such an unbelievable performer on stage,” she revealed. “Except for the fact that I have an absolutely horrendous singing voice. But I just really like the idea of being on a stage in front of tens of thousands of fans.”

So will there be a cameo in a Christmas pantomime? “No, a singer. I want to be a superstar. Basically, Taylor Swift.”

Does she have a favourite song? “Any song is an excuse to be my magnificent self!” she jokes. “I’m really good at breaking into dance. I wouldn’t say the quality is good but the effort is high.”

She’s a certified Sheerio, having dashed off to Newcastle to see Ed Sheeran in concert last month. And last year U2 invited her to see them play in Dublin. “I met Bono and the Edge. I was so nervous, I felt like a nuisance but they came out and they were so excited to see me. Me! I was very out of sorts. I was like, Oh, my gosh, they know my name!”

So much for being a superstar. “Yes, I get a lot of excited young children coming up to me and they’re starstruck. That’s weird, because it’s by me. I’m always looking around thinking, like, who did they see?”

She says she doesn’t have any idols of her own, though. “I’ve never had heroes. I admired Steffi Graf for the way she carried herself, her presence, the class and dignity she exuded when on or off court. But in terms of idolising, I didn’t do that. I always wanted to be myself. I never aspired to play like anybody else.”

She does hugely credit her parents for her rise. Konta was born in Sydney, Australia, to Hungarian parents Gábor, a hotel manager, and Gabriella, a dentist. They moved to the UK when she was 15. “Most sportsmen and women talk about their parents giving up Saturdays to drive them to coaching. Mine moved continents.”

Her dream run to the semi-finals at the All England Club last year lifted her to a career-high fourth in the world but she’s struggled for form this year, and that frustration has boiled over at times. She was demonstrably angry with an umpire in last month’s Nottingham Open final, for example, over a line call.

“In the sport today we’ve got Hawkeye. That gives players the option of challenging calls. That takes some pressure off the umpires. It’s about balance.”

Konta has all sorts of tricks for taking off the pressure. She bakes at the flat she is based in for Wimbledon, and brought along white chocolate and raspberry muffins for staff at SW19 at last year’s tournament. “I have a folder full of recipe pull-outs from Waitrose magazine,” she says. She’s even applied for a place The Great British Bake Off (successfully? “Not yet...”). This year there will be ice lollies. “The most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me... my boyfriend knows me very well — this won’t seem romantic to anyone else, but he got me a bunch of kitchen aid appliances. That made me very happy,” she says, collapsing into laughter.

But on the subject of the women’s game, she’s serious. The England women’s football coach Phil Neville recently said some of his players could compete in the men’s game. Will there ever be a crossover between men and women’s games in tennis? “I don’t know. I don’t think so. It’s beautiful to see the men’s game and women’s game separately. They’re so strong in separate ways. I don’t think either needs to prove anything to the other.”

It’s the same with Konta. A trophy in sight, but nothing to prove.

Jo is partnering with Nature Valley, the official snack bar of the LTA, to inspire the nation to get outdoors and play tennis.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in