IF Johanna Konta walked down the street in London, Glasgow or even her home town of Eastbourne, there is a good chance she would go unnoticed. But after the events of the past fortnight in Melbourne, and indeed the past six months around the tennis circuit, things might be about to change.
Having reached the fourth round of the US Open in September, the 24-year-old has been making history in Melbourne, where she became the first British woman for 32 years to make the quarter-finals of any grand slam event. Andy Murray, finally, has some company.
Last night, she was due to play China’s Shuai Zhang, the world No.133, for a place in the semi-finals, something no British woman has managed since 1977. Her ranking, which was 47 at the start of last week, is on the rise and she is well on track to be seeded for the French Open, inside the world’s top 32.
Considering she was ranked almost 150 at this time last year, it is a remarkable rise and above all, a remarkable journey that Konta has been on, ever since she left her native Australia at the age of 11.
Born in Sydney to Hungarian parents – mother Gabriella is a dentist and father Gabor is a hotelier – Konta eventually arrived in Eastbourne at the age of 14, having spent some time training in Spain as her family tried to find the best place to develop her tennis.
The tranquillity of Eastbourne, compared with the hustle of a big city, suits Konta’s outlook on life, a belief in the journey being as important as the destination, or in her case, the career goals.
“This journey started when I was about eight years old, so we're coming up to 18 years now,” Konta said in Melbourne, where she knocked out seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams in round one.
Not surprisingly, given that other than Sam Stosur, Australia have been devoid of top women players in recent times, the locals in Melbourne have been doing their best to claim Konta as an Aussie.
As a fighter and a winner, it’s not hard to see why but Konta has lived in Britain since 2005 and got her British passport in 2012.
Here she has been busy telling anyone and everyone how British she is and feels, laughing off a reminder that until recently, a Google search of her name was accompanied by an Australian flag.
“It's not the first time that mistake has been made,” she said, taking it all in her stride, much as she does her tennis. “It's all good. I'm definitely playing for Great Britain.
“Australia is my birth home, so it will always be a home of some sort. But I'm very happy, very pleased to be representing Great Britain. That is my home. That is where my heart is. That's where my parents are. That's where I grew up essentially. When people ask where I'm from, where is home, that's where it is.”
Konta moved her base to Gijon, Spain, early last year when the level of funding she receives from the LTA was cut.
Coincidence or a push she needed, the switch coincided with her surge up the rankings.
It was in Eastbourne last summer when Konta began to catch people’s attention, with wins over two top-20 players taking her to the quarter-finals.
Since then, the confidence has been oozing and her run to the last 16 in New York, where she beat Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza, was the foundation for her efforts here in Melbourne.
An outstanding athlete – Konta’s grandfather, Tamas Kertesz, played football for Hungary – her movement around the court is matched only be her steely determination. Each point means as much to her as the last, each one an opportunity to reach her goal.
In her first few years on Tour, Konta had trouble closing out matches, struggling to cope with the nerves of the situation, but her work with a “mind coach” has done wonders to her game and crucially, to her belief.
“I've always said I do not believe in kind of a light-switch moment,” she said of her improvement. “Everything happens for a reason. My journey has been the way it has been for a reason. That's to accumulate the experiences that I've had.
“I cannot give you a moment where I said, oh, yeah, that's where it started, because it's been ongoing ever since I started playing.”
Konta likes to talk about the process but if she continues to improve at this rate, the sight of a British woman in the latter stages of a grand slam might soon become the rule, rather than the exception.
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