There have been times in the past 18 months when Jo Konta has sounded like she was on the psychiatrist’s coach rather than the tennis court, speaking of the process, of staying in the moment.
But whatever she has been doing is clearly working and yesterday, the Briton produced a stunning victory over seven-times grand slam champion Venus Williams in round one at the Australian Open.
The 24-year-old beat eighth seed Williams 6-4, 6-2, her only moment of real worry coming when she led 5-0 only for the American to threaten a fight-back.
The commentators here in Melbourne like to remind everyone that 47th-ranked Konta was born in Australia but there can be little doubt that Britain has a player who is heading towards the top 20.
Reaching the fourth round at the US Open just over four months ago convinced Konta that she belongs at this level; yesterday, she showed she could be capable of going even further, even if she refuses to get ahead of herself.
“I’ve said before that I don’t judge myself on my ranking or my results, so it would be very hypocritical to start now,” she said.
“I very much do my best to really just judge myself on how I do, what effort I put in, what attitude I bring to the court. I’m going to work very hard to bring that to everything I do, wherever my career goes.
“I’ve got my next match on Thursday and in between that I have doubles, so that’s all I can see right now.”
With her left thigh strapped, Williams looked uncomfortable from the start and Konta took advantage, roaring to a 5-0 lead in the second after edging the first set.
Serving at 5-0 she briefly faltered – as she had when failing to serve out for victory against Williams in Wuhan last year – but this time, she bounced back to clinch the biggest win of her career.
“In terms of a decorated tennis player and the biggest champion that I’ve ever played, yeah, she definitely is,” Konta said. “I’m very proud of the way I was able to stay very present and just keep going whatever the scoreline.”
“I'm very happy with the game plan I went out there with and just my ability to really stick with it, even when things were getting a bit close.”
Describing her pre-season, Konta said she “worked my butt off” and stressed the importance of starting the season strong.
“During my pre-season after day two I was just tired every single day, it just didn’t matter what we were doing,” she said.
“Even if I had a day off I was so tired. It takes a lot out of you. And after you’ve put so much work in it then is about finding your feet again out on the match court. It’s a different ball game all together.
“Obviously the biggest thing that the pre-season does for you is to maximise your chance of playing a full season, of really putting yourself in such a physical condition that you’re able to rely on that during some very difficult conditions in matches.”
Konta’s next opponent is Saisai Zheng of China, a player ranked 83 and likely to be inspired by the performance of her countrywoman, Shuai Zhang.
After 14 consecutive first-round defeats in grand slam events, Zhang claimed a 6-4, 6-3 win over the No 2 seed Simona Halep, whose sore Achilles heel has clearly not recovered.
The Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza, who has been struggling with blistered feet, crushed Anett Kontaveit of Latvia 6-0, 6-4 while two-time champion Victoria Azarenka, many people’s tip for the title, crushed Alyson van Outvanck 6-0, 6-0.
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