Rome: Konta Interview
An interview with Johanna Konta after her win in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
An interview with Johanna Konta after her win in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
With World No.1 Angelique Kerber out of Oz, can No.2 Serena Williams reclaim the top spot at the Australia? Find out how right here on wtatennis.com.
MELBOURNE, Australia – CoCo Vandeweghe ended No.1 Angelique Kerber’s title defense at the Australian Open on Sunday, defeating the German 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 16 to make her first quarterfinal in Melbourne. Ranked No.35 and set to rise to a career-high ranking after the tournament, the big-hitting American bullied Kerber off the court with her power, firing 30 winners to 20 unforced errors in just 68 minutes.
.@CoCoVandey with the dab!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/yEayki4q6k
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
1. This result was in the cards.
On paper, this was a significant upset. In actuality, you could see it coming from a mile away.
There’s no way around it: Kerber was still trying to find her form in Melbourne. She came into the tournament with just three matches under her belt – two of them losses – and though she successfully navigated the first week of play, she was never convincing.
The defending champion needed three sets to get past Lesia Tsurenko in the first round and Carina Witthoeft in the second round, relying on her physical defense to grind out matches against players who tried to hit her off the court.
“This is tennis, and you have good days and bad days. For sure today was not my best day.” -#Kerber#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/oyEqc9kIIB
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
That defense finally found its match against the ballistic ball-striking from Vandeweghe. The American is into her second Slam quarterfinal after scoring strong wins over Roberta Vinci, Pauline Parmentier, Eugenie Bouchard, and now Kerber. Her serve has been cranking and her backhand in particular has dominated her matches. Kerber’s defense alone would not be enough to unwind Vandeweghe on her day.
The German needed her serve — which has not been at the level it was last year — as well as good depth and width on her groundstrokes. Instead, she sent back a buffet of short balls in the middle of the court, which were automatic for Vandeweghe.
On improving: “I usually sit down and think of three positives from the match and three negatives from the match.'” -#Vandeweghe#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Pjm2fA312L
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
2. CoCo’s confidence carries her through.
The American insists that sometimes she “fakes it until she makes it”, an allusion to the idea that she’s not always as confident as she may seem on court. But there’s no denying that Vandeweghe talks as big of a game as she plays and that swagger seems to translate into tremendous clarity on court. Since the start of 2016, Vandeweghe has won 5 of her 6 meetings against Top 10 players.
Next, she gets a shot to avenge that one loss to Muguruza in Cincinnati last summer.
“I go out there expecting to win.” ✔️
Goal achieved, @CoCoVandey #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/YyQ7MuwliA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
After coming back from a break down in the third set to beat Bouchard in the third round, Vandeweghe shrugged off any implication that the win was a particularly significant one. After converting match point against the World No.1 and defending champion, she calmly looked to her box and nonchalantly shrugged.
The message is clear from the 25-year-old Californian: this is what she expects of herself and this is what she knows she can do.
On Sundays, we slow-mo with @serenawilliams. #ausopen pic.twitter.com/QMPRf0H3VA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
3. The No.1 scenario is simple.
Serena Williams can retake the No.1 ranking if she wins the Australian Open title. She plays her Round of 16 against Barbora Strycova on Monday.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Johanna Konta will play the biggest match of her career on Wednesday when she faces six-time champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. By all accounts, the 25-year-old doesn’t even see it that way.
Konta, who is riding an eight-match winning streak after taking the Apia International Sydney title, has won her last 18 sets of tennis. Her serve, a weapon that has emerged as the cornerstone of her game, has been broken just twice in Melbourne. There’s no reason for Konta to be short of confidence going into her first career meeting against Serena, but the humble Brit’s approach to her tennis these days is what sets her apart from the pack.
Look no further than the final game she played to beat Ekaterina Makarova, 6-1, 6-4 in the Round of 16 on Monday. Serving to close out the match, Konta found herself down 0-40, a point away from finding herself back on serve against the talented Russian. She saved the first break point with an unreturnable first serve, the second with a forehand winner, and the third with an ace, cool as you like. Four points later, the match was over.
Closing out matches, handling one’s nerves with so much on the line, these are the marks of a resilient competitor. Just 48 hours earlier, 19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko had No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova on the ropes and twice failed to serve out the match, blowing a 5-2 lead and losing. The young Latvian immediately copped to her nerves, saying she was impossibly tight as she stared down the biggest win of her career. Konta, serving for a spot in her second career quarterfinal, didn’t even flinch.
So how did Konta do it? Here’s her eloquent response from the interview room after the match:
Q. You said the other day that you were surprised how you close out sets and matches as if it was any routine service game. Where do you draw that confidence in those big moments?
JOHANNA KONTA: I think more than anything it’s more trying to disassociate myself from the importance of the moment. I think it’s more keeping things in perspective and not panicking if I were to lose that service game or that point.
I think just keeping things in good perspective and just having trust in myself that however the match will swing, I will always be there to give my best and to always try to leave it all out on court and fight till the very end.
So nice to finally meet @JoKonta91 fun chat & Jo has great vision & a positive attitude to the future of her tennis. Exciting times pic.twitter.com/06HjbPn2gG
— Jo Durie (@Jodurie) January 23, 2017
Q. When you talk about disassociating yourself from the big moments, obviously a lot of players struggle to do it, and I’m sure you struggled to do it five years ago. Why is that so difficult for most players? Why was it difficult early on to kind of be able to not be overwhelmed by the importance of moments in a match?
JOHANNA KONTA: I think it’s difficult, because you have also got to put things in perspective. Everyone you see playing has been playing since they were a little girl. And it’s no secret that to get to whatever sport or even whatever area of life, if you want to be part of the elite and if you want to get to the top of your field, there will be numerous sacrifices you’ll need to make.
And I think when you get to a position where you might see a glimmer of what you have dreamed of as a little girl or what you hoped for, what you’ve worked so hard for, it can feel kind of an all-or-nothing moment or what if I never get this chance again?
I think it’s more a bit of possibly fear of being able to replicate the position you’re in more than anything, but then I think that’s where you have also got to have a good perspective on things, and you’ve got to keep, I guess, the simple things in mind of what’s important to you.
Are you healthy? Is your family healthy? Do you have people around you that you love? Do you have people around you that love you?
I know it might sound really mundane and simple, but I guess you’ve got to go back to things that have got substance, and then in the end just trust in the work that you do, if it’s in the cards for you that you will get another opportunity or you won’t. I think [you have to] really love the sport for what it is and be grateful for the opportunities that it brings you, not necessarily what you wish it would.
Q. Going back to the separating yourself from the importance of the moment, in that nanosecond where the little voice in your ear goes, Psst, it’s match point, what is the trigger that you can shut that voice out, and how long does that take for it to become automatic?
JOHANNA KONTA: I don’t think it’s about necessarily, for me personally, anyway, about shutting it out. It’s more accepting that, Oh, I have got a little bit of tension. Or accepting that my mind might be yapping away, not necessarily fighting against it, but relaxing into it and saying, It’s absolutely normal to think like this.
I think it’s then easier for your motions to take over more than anything because you’ve got to trust the tennis in you, the motions in you, years and years of playing that I’m all of a sudden not going to forget how to serve. I have been doing it, I don’t even know how long, so I think it’s more just having that trust in the repetitions that you’ve had over the years.
Konta’s transformation over the last 18 months has been one of the most confounding stories in the women’s game. How does a player, one who was once a terrible closer who would let her emotions impede her game, suddenly learn to set it all aside and trust the tennis within her? Experience and maturity certainly play a role, as does Konta’s work with a sports psychologist.
But the rapidity of the change and her unwavering commitment and belief in herself is remarkable and a fantastic example to players up and down the rankings. Asked whether she believed she could beat Serena, Konta dismissed the premise of the question.
“I believe in my own ability,” she said. “I believe in the good things that I bring to the court, and I believe in my ability to fight till the very end.
“Now, there’s that and then there’s also an opponent out there, and this one’s going to be Serena Williams. I think it’s about playing, me going out there and doing what I want to do against her, and it will be about just staying focused on that. And if that brings me good things on that day, and if that puts me in a position to come through, then that’s great.
“But I’ve got to focus on the work and not think of whether I can or cannot beat her. I just need to stay on the work.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Top seed Serena Williams and a pair of top Spaniards lead the top half of the draw as the field begins fighting for spots in the quarterfinals. Who will advance first into the final eight?
ROME, Italy – Madison Keys gritted through a tough opening set to battle past Timea Babos, 7-6(2), 6-3, to achieve a career-best result at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!
There was little between the two in the opening set, as the Hungarian forced a tie-break to conclude a run of 12 straight service holds.
“The first set was definitely back and forth, just big serving,” Keys said in her post-match press conference. “Neither one of us could kind of get a read on where the other person was serving. But there was a couple of points in the tiebreaker where I really kind of put the point together a little bit better.”
But Keys took the initiative from there, racing out to a 5-1 lead in the sudden death and didn’t look back, taking the match in 82 minutes behind 26 winners to 22 unforced errors.
“Then after that, I just got a little bit more rhythm and confidence, and then from there I was able to break early in the second. That definitely helped the momentum kind of go more towards my side.”
Great hands, @TimeaBabos! #ibi16 https://t.co/J3SnXQ15sM
— WTA (@WTA) May 12, 2016
Both had earned upsets during Wednesday’s night session, but Babos’ nearly three hour win over former No.1 Venus Williams seemed to take its toll in the second set, as the Hungarian could only muster 16 winners and 26 unforced errors, only engineering one break point opportunity in two sets.
“I usually don’t do great here,” Keys continued. “And so, you know, putting a couple wins together felt really good. I’m not going to jinx it,” she said, knocking on wood.
“It feels like I’m kind of figuring it out just a little bit better. From there, you know, I’m putting more points together and kind of putting it all together a little bit better than before.
Awaiting Keys in her first Premier 5 clay court quarterfinal is Barbora Strycova, who played a perfect match to dismantle Eugenie Bouchard, 6-1, 6-0.
“It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and overthink things and put yourself in a round before you’ve actually even played,” Keys said. “I think it happens to everyone at times.
“So just really being focused on each match and doing what you need to do in that match has been a big thing for me.”
Bouchard was coming off of her first Top 5 win since 2014, having upset World No.2 and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in three sets. But Strycova, who won their most recent encounter at last year’s Mutua Madrid Open, played flawless tennis from start to finish, hitting 18 winners to only 15 unforced errors and breaking serve six times to take the match in just over an hour.
“I saw the ball like a football! I enjoyed the court; it was very nice, and the spectators stayed. It was a good evening,” an elated Strycova said after the match.
“I was playing my game very well; I was pretty confident on court, hitting the ball. It was pretty cold, so I had to get my body moving at the beginning.”
Going from strength to strength as the match wore on, Strycova’s confidence was evident with every winner she hit, several on the run and from defensive positions. Into her second Premier 5 quarterfinal of 2016, Strycova will look to avenge last week’s Madrid loss to Keys, who defeated her in straight sets.
“Clay isn’t my favorite surface, until now!” she said with a laugh. “I’m trying to like it; I was working hard before Prague. I’m enjoying myself, enjoying Rome.
“[Keys] is such a big hitter, and I’m so small, so I have to be ready to try to return her serves. I’ll have to run and catch some fast balls!”
.@BaraStrycova races through the opening set vs Bouchard 6-1! #ibi16 https://t.co/fWi0V9114i
— WTA (@WTA) May 12, 2016
A strong serving performance led Serena Williams to a 6-2 6-0 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Rome quarterfinals. According to SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches, Williams exceeded her season averages in every serving category in her 51 minute victory Friday.
Six weeks ago, Kuznetsova defeated the World No.1 as Williams struggled with her service in Miami. In Rome, the Williams serve was vastly improved.
Williams put 78% of her first serves in play Friday, up considerably from her season average of 60%. The SAP Coaches View analytics also show that percentage was just 63% in the Miami match, which included a combined 56% in the final two sets, which Williams lost.
At 74%, Williams leads the WTA in first serve points won. On Friday, she did even better, winning 81% of first serve points. That is also a significant improvement over the Miami match in which she won only 60% of first serve points, and that dipped to 53% in her two losing sets.
She was also improved on second serves, winning 56 percent of those points, compared to her season percentage of 50%. In the Miami loss, Williams won only 39% of those points in total, and just 28% in the final two sets.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
“Service” tracking shows the landing point for all serves. The display differentiates between first serves, second serves and aces. Additional data on the screen shows the percentage of overall service points won as well as looking specifically at first and second serves.
For Serena Williams on Friday, there were many positives to take from this data.
ROME, Italy – Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza moved confidently into their third consecutive clay court final with a straight set win over Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu on Saturday evening.
For the first time since teaming up, Hingis and Mirza have found their status as the most talked about team on tour under threat in recent weeks. Defeats to emerging rivals Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in Stuttgart and Madrid saw the World No.1s arrive in Rome with a point to prove.
At the Foro Italico, though, Hingis and Mirza have been faultless, negotiating a tricky draw with consummate ease. Against Begu and Niculescu they raced into a 4-0 lead, and while this level proved unsustainable the top seeds still ran out comfortable 6-3, 6-4 winners.
Standing between them and a fifth title of 2016 will be No.7 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
Form and fitness problems have seen the Russians slip down the rankings, but judging by performances this week they are rounding into form at just the right time. Against No.4 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka they were particularly impressive, withstanding a late charge to run out 6-2, 7-5 winners.
Let's rewatch @mhingis and @MirzaSania's match point! They are going straight to the #ibi16 doubles final! #WTA pic.twitter.com/1Pg7ATVZZ7
— Internazionali Bnl (@InteBNLdItalia) May 14, 2016
The last Premier final before Roland Garros will feature two Americans at different stages of their career and with contrasting clay court pedigree – here are 10 Things To Know about the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final:
(1) Serena Williams (USA #1) vs Madison Keys (USA #24)
Head-To-Head: Williams leads, 2-0
1) Williams has a fine record against fellow Americans.
Since losing to her sister Venus at Montréal in 2014, Williams has won 15 straight matches against Americans, including two against Keys (at the 2015 Australian and US Opens). Her last loss to an American in a final came way back in 2008, against Venus at Wimbledon.
2) The Eternal wait is over.
The Foro Italico will host the first all-American final on tour in nearly four years (Serena d. Vandeweghe, 2012 Stanford), and the first in Rome since Billie Jean King defeated Julie Heldman in 1970.
3) Williams in unfamiliar territory.
For the first time since 1998, Williams is contesting this tournament without already having a won a title in the season to date. Keys has also endured a slightly below par start, failing to make it beyond the quarterfinals of an event until this week.
4) Keys could secure a French Open boost.
Keys will move back into the Top 20 by virtue of reaching the final. Should the American lift the title, she will guarantee herself a Top 16 seeding at Roland Garros, avoiding the big guns until at least the fourth round.
5) Good omen for Keys.
The last time Keys defeated two Top 10 players in the same week, she won the title (2014 Eastbourne – No.7 Jelena Jankovic, No.9 Angelique Kerber). In Rome she has already overcome No.9 Kvitova and No.4 Garbiñe Muguruza. Will lightning strike twice?
6) Williams has won her last 19 matches in Rome.
Williams loves the Foro Italico clay, winning her last 19 matches there. Her last loss* at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia came in a third set tie-break against Jankovic in 2010.
* Injury forced Williams to withdraw prior to her matches with Christina McHale in 2015 (elbow) and Li Na in 2012 (back)
7) Williams is trying to win her fourth Rome title – and 70th across all tournaments.
On Sunday afternoon, Williams hopes to lift the 70th title of her illustrious career, and the fourth in Rome. The other events she has won four or more times are the Australian Open (six), Wimbledon (six), US Open (six), WTA Finals (five) and Miami (eight). The only players to be crowned champion on four occasions in the Italian capital are Chris Evert (five), Gabriela Sabatini (four) and Conchita Martinez (four).
8) Keys is going for the biggest title of her career.
Perhaps surprisingly, Keys’ only WTA title to date came two years ago in Eastbourne. Despite her self-confessed preference for the tour’s faster surfaces, her only other final did come on the green clay of Charleston, ending in a three-set loss to Kerber last April.
9) Every underdog has its day.
World No.24 Keys is not the only unseeded player to make it to the final in Rome. In fact, in 2010, No.26 María José Martínez Sánchez managed the feat, defeating Jelena Jankovic to lift the title.
10) Williams is going for her 13th clay court title, the most of any active player.
Williams has the most WTA clay court titles among active players with 12. She still has quite some way to go to catch the all-time leader, Chris Evert, who lifted 66 trophies on the surface.
Venus Williams talks about how she recovered from her disappointment in Auckland to bounce back to the Australian Open final.