Konta confirms she's ready for Wimbledon

Johanna Konta is Britain's great hope of women's success at The All England Club and she has declared herself fit after an injury scare.

Johanna Konta joined Andy Murray in declaring herself fit for Wimbledon.

Britain's two leading hopes found themselves the subject of injury scares in the build-up to the Championships.

Murray missed two days of training because of a hip problem while Konta hurt her spine in a fall at Eastbourne last Thursday.

The world No.7 was on the brink of victory against world No.1 Angelique Kerber when she slipped and fell heavily, landing on her back and then hitting her head.

Konta was able to resume her match and defeated Kerber but subsequently pulled out of her scheduled semi-final against eventual champion Karolina Pliskova.

She was guarded about her hopes of playing Wimbledon and rested on Friday and Saturday before a positive practice session on Sunday.

"I never was thinking that I wasn't going to (play Wimbledon)," Konta said.

"It was most important to just make sure that I was well enough. Definitely it was medically the right decision to not continue playing in Eastbourne, to give my body that chance to recover. It was a bit of a traumatic fall on the body.

"I'm definitely recovering really well. I'm taking it a day at a time. I practised today. I felt good. I'm definitely looking forward to playing my first round."

Until the injury, it had been a near perfect week for Konta, who claimed her first victory over a world No.1 on the same day she defeated French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Konta certainly stepped up her form on grass having previously lost to Donna Vekic in the final in Nottingham and Coco Vandeweghe in the second round in Birmingham.

A strong focus on the mental side of the sport has been the key piece of the jigsaw in propelling Konta into the top 10.

She goes into Wimbledon as the sixth seed, the highest for a British woman since Virginia Wade in 1979, and among the title favourites despite only ever having won one match at the All England Club.

Konta pointedly tries to avoid piling any results-based pressure on herself but knows the spotlight will be shining brightly.

"I guess because my expectations continue to be my own, my own journey, my own focus, in that sense not much has changed. I do try to keep myself around my own people, around the mentality that I want to be around," Lonta said.

"But I know there's more attention and there's more interest in my performance. But that's also a good thing. It means we're talking more about women's tennis in this country."

The first hurdle for Konta is a rematch on Monday with unorthodox Chinese Taipei player Hsieh Su-wei, who she lost to at the same stage of the French Open five weeks ago.


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Source: AAP



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