An in-depth look at Johanna Konta's rise into the world's top 10

British No 1 chasing maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne

By Raz Mirza

Friday 31 March 2017 18:47, UK

After Johanna Konta broke into the world's top 10, Britain's rising star in the women's game is on another surge at the Australian Open. We chart her spectacular rise to stardom.

Konta is the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1984 to crack into the elite of the women's game and she maintained her sizzling form at the Australian Open this morning, ousting Russia's Ekaterina Makarova at a canter.

Her 6-1 6-4 victory over the 30th seed was a display of the aggressive tennis for which Konta is gaining a reputation: the world No 9 won 80 per cent of points on her first serve, and let slip just one of her five break points.

Next up for the only Briton left in the singles draws is second seed and 22-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams.

Konta's status as a genuine contender to win the first Grand Slam of the year is credit, in part, to her mental resilience.

She will try to cap a stunning rise over the last 20 months, which has seen her move up from 146th to ninth in the world, with victory in Melbourne.

Last January, Konta became the first British woman for 33 years to reach a Grand Slam semi-final when she made the last four at the Australian Open, replicating Durie's run at the 1983 US Open.

The only other British women to get as far in Melbourne were Virginia Wade, who won the tournament in 1972, and Sue Barker, who made the semis twice (1975 and 1977).

Konta moved up to No 18 in the women's rankings in June, making her the first British female to enter the top 20 since Durie in 1983, who then climbed to No 5 in the world a year later.

She is smashing records and the next landmark facing her in Grand Slams will be Wade's 1977 mark - the last British woman to reach a Grand Slam final when she won Wimbledon.

After her Melbourne run in 2016, Konta struggled with the pressure at Wimbledon as she lost in three sets to former finalist Eugenie Bouchard in the second round.

But in July, she claimed her first WTA Tour title at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford with a 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over Venus Williams.

Although she bowed out in the last 16 of the US Open in September, Konta narrowly missed out on the year-end WTA Championships, but began 2017 by winning the WTA Apia International in Sydney, proving to her rivals that she is a genuine title contender.

Here, we list a few things you should know about Konta...

Konta was born in Sydney to Hungarian parents. Her dad is a hotelier and her mum a dentist. She speaks both English and Hungarian.

She is facing growing determination from Australian fans to claim her as one of their own. "I think the announcer on court tried to get the crowd involved," Konta said, following her scintillating third-round victory over Wozniacki.

"He said, 'Is she from Great Britain? Is she from Australia?' I'm like, 'this is kind of awkward'.

"But yeah, my place of birth is no secret. Also where I call home is no secret either. Everyone's pretty clear where they stand with me."

Konta moved to England and based herself in Eastbourne in 2005, aged 14. She qualified as a British citizen in May 2012 and soon started competing for Great Britain. In 2014, she switched her training base to Gijon in Spain working with her Spanish coaches Esteban Carril and Jose-Manuel Garcia.

Her first Wimbledon appearance came courtesy of a wild card in 2012 and she showed her propensity for being able to go the distance in matches, eventually losing 10-8 to Christina McHale in a deciding set in the first round.

She reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time in 2015 when - ranked 97 in the world - she knocked out seeded pair Garbine Muguruza and Andrea Petkovic en route to the fourth round of the US Open, where she lost to two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

The British No 1 has won 11 ITF titles and four ITF doubles titles during her career won her first WTA title on the main Tour in July and collected her second in Sydney this January. She has accrued over £2m in prize money to date.

Resilience and the ability to close out matches under pressure was once a regular weakness in Konta's game and her transformation was aided by the help of Juan Coto, her former 'mental coach', whom she had been working with since October 2014, until the news of his sudden death in November.

The Eastbourne-based player sprung a major surprise by splitting with Spanish coach Carril a month later and then bought in one of the women's tour's most experienced coaches in Wim Fissette at the start of the year.

British world No 1 Andy Murray is excited to see the progress made by Konta and will be keeping a close eye on how far she goes in the game.

"She finished last year extremely well and kind of showed that she had the potential to get there with the wins that she was having," Murray said.

"But it's not easy to do it over a 12-month period. It's exciting to see kind of how far she's going to be able to go."

Konta is now a perennial WTA Tour finalist and has her sights set on the higher echelons of the women's game - will the Australian Open title be next?

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