London: Johanna Konta identifies as a U2 “obsessive” and yet, such are the imperatives of one who has just made her maiden run to the fourth round of Wimbledon, she is resisting the temptation to see the band at Twickenham on Saturday. It is a mere six miles to the stadium from the ivy-clad gates of the All England Club, but the pressure of finding herself an improbable favourite to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish precludes any musical indulgence.
Faraway, so close, as Bono is fond of singing. “If I had a house, I would mortgage it to see U2,” Konta once said. She smiled the other day, in the glow of having trounced Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 in a display of authority befitting a sixth seed, when it was suggested she had lapsed grievously in her loyalties.
“I’m actually seeing them in a few weeks,” she said. “When I looked at where U2 were touring, I tried to put it in a section of my season where I was as close as possible to guaranteeing that I would see them. It’s a personal preference. A couple of years ago, I saw Taylor Swift a few days before the Championships.”
Konta is not one of life’s natural rebels. She can be a shy, vanilla personality in interviews and is wary of the heightened interest that each phase of her Wimbledon progress creates. It is true to her nature that she would forsake the chance of some light relief watching her favourite band to keep her preparation protocols.
So far, the approach is working seamlessly. She dismantled Sakkari with a conviction that belied her lack of pre-2017 grasscourt pedigree, not losing a point on serve until the sixth game. Already she is being touted, optimistically, as a front-runner for the title, even though world No. 2 Simona Halep lurks ominously in her section of the draw.
In response, Konta is treating any such projection as white noise. “I don’t spend too much time thinking about it or listening to it,” she said, smiling. “Things move quickly in tennis, opinions change daily.” She did acknowledge, though, that the thought of turning up for the Champions’ Ball in Covent Garden next Sunday night alongside Andy Murray was “amazing”.
For all her understandable reluctance not to be swept up by this type of chatter, Konta played like a woman intending to be involved at this tournament come the better end. In a field shorn of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, she has never had a finer chance to advertise her talents to a home audience.
Her record of beating Angelique Kerber, the world No 1, and Jelena Ostapenko, the French Open champion, on this surface this summer offers a hint of her capability. The British women’s contingent has savoured its share of last-16 success in recent years — Laura Robson reached the same giddy platform in 2013 — but few have ever sealed a place there with such a serene sense of certainty.
After the churning tension of her three-hour marathon against Donna Vekic two days earlier, Konta strode out on Court No. 1 looking at last like she belonged. Nobody should be in any doubt about what the rapturous acceptance by this Wimbledon crowd means to her. Konta, who has Hungarian ancestry and was brought up in Australia, wept copiously during the opening ceremony at the London Olympics. With her final winner against Sakkari unleashed, fans saluted her with the kind of ardour they once reserved only for Tim Henman.
Konta, having been urged by Murray to display her emotions more on court, said: “I definitely appreciate the support. I hope people are enjoying the matches. For me, a lot of the competition is within myself. My priority has to be how I approach each match, the mindset I have.”
Konta recognises that she faces an onerous test on Monday, against France’s Caroline Garcia, and she intends to navigate it as only she knows, by retreating into a brittle competitive shell. Dancing the night away can wait.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2017
