Nerves can suffocate or liberate and few have embraced both ends of that neurological spectrum as dramatically as Johanna Konta. The days when she was so gripped by anxiety that she smothered her talent near to the point of disintegration are so distant it is hard to believe it is the same person who now strides into the locker room at Roland Garros as a respected contender.
This is her second slam as a top‑10 player, although it is on her least favourite surface. Nevertheless, in the absence of Serena Williams, no wildcard for Maria Sharapova and with the interim world No1, Angelique Kerber, still prone to the jitters, Konta has mainly herself and the clay underfoot to worry about.
To do otherwise would be to slip into the debilitating habits that consumed her when she was struggling to make a living or add even a meagre collection of points to her ranking total. It took her six years to break into the top 100, in June 2014, but just another two months to make the top 50. Once she struck a winning rhythm, her self-belief soared.
After moving inside the world’s top 30, in January last year, she blossomed. She was top 20 by mid-summer and cracked the top 10 for the first time last October. Three weeks ago, she hit a career-high No 6, although she has slipped two places since.
Most of her success has come on hard courts and while clay would not be her chosen surface she does not fear it. As she said after being drawn to play Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in the first round: “A big part of the challenge is the time I spend on the surface, compared to the other ones.”
Elite athletes love the comfort of familiarity. They fear and abhor change. But Konta is learning to adapt. “It’s not just that I haven’t played much on the clay,” she says. “Obviously I have in the past – but it’s the level of players that I’m playing on the surface, which I haven’t had experience in. That’s a time factor.
“However, as a game style, it’s more of an adaptation process. Noticing how, for example, on the hard court, the movement side of it and then the way you’re able to take the ball early. Your general movement around the ball is slightly more straightforward than it is on the clay.
“I just need to keep adapting well, movement-wise around the ball. Also, being patient enough to build. The points are a bit longer here. The balls play differently off the court.”
Technically dry, perhaps, but toweringly important at the highest level.
Konta is not a machine, though. She talks as animatedly about gelato in Rome as the terre battue of Paris. She loves her food, music and driving her new sponsored car. But she keeps an eye on all around her on one of the most competitive circuits there has been in many years. Everyone is dangerous. Everyone is vulnerable. Nerves abound.
When the world No4, Simona Halep, was asked in Rome whom she regarded as the favourite for the French Open, she replied: “About 15 players.”
As it happens, Betfair have listed that number of contenders on a single‑figure percentage chance to win the title.
Kerber, who ought to be the logical pick but isn’t – partly because she does not like clay, mainly because her form is as reliable as an opinion poll – said she felt “not bad”. Having endured the humiliation of a bagel recently, she added: “It’s always different in grand slams. Always. The first rounds are always tough. Everything is possible. Always.”
However, this fortnight more than for a long time uncertainty stalks the locker room. Against all expectations but her own in her darkest times, Konta can be numbered among Halep’s notional 15.
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