Johanna Konta keeping focused in race for WTA Tour Finals
Sunday 25 September 2016 15:57, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta says she will not be distracted by her position in the race for the WTA Tour Finals in Singapore.
Konta has had a superb 2016 so far, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open, the fourth round of the US Open, winning her first WTA Tour event and surging up the rankings, and that sees her 10th in the race, with the top eight reaching the end-of-season showpiece in October.
A good run at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open this week followed by more success in Beijing next week could see the 24-year-old surpass Madison Keys and Carla Suarez Navarro on the leaderboard and become the first British women to qualify for the tournament since Virgina Wade in 1980.
But Konta said: "[The race] is not something that I am actively thinking about, it is a result of something else.
"As long as I focus on the matches I am playing at the time, the here and the now, I will give myself the best chance of competing there.
"If it is in the cards for me, it is in the cards for me, if it's not then it's not. I am just really happy to be where I am at this stage of the season, I am in good physical shape and we will just see where that takes me."
It was in Wuhan last year where Konta made people sit up and notice by building on her surprise run to the US Open fourth round and reaching the quarter-finals.
She eventually lost a titanic battle with Venus Williams, who she has since beaten twice this year, and hopes to go deep into the tournament again, with German Annika Beck lying in wait.
"That match against Venus last year was a highlight, I actually had some very good matches throughout the tournament last year," she added.
"That's no indication of how well I will do this year but I am going to enjoy it again and give it my best and see how far that takes me.
"Whoever I would have drawn here, there are no easy matches. I am looking forward to getting started, I will be going out there and hoping to take care of things at my end and see where that gets me."
