Ahead of her return to Grand Slam action, British No. 1 Johanna Konta revealed she had received cries of support in the streets following her row at Wimbledon with a journalist.
During a testy exchange after a defeat to Barbora Strycova in the quarter-finals of her home Slam, Konta took exception to a line of questioning and accused a reporter of ‘patronising’ and ‘picking on’ her.
Clips of the row spread across social media like wildfire – with some claiming sexism was at play – and while Konta immediately jetted off on holiday, she couldn’t avoid the commotion, with one lady shouting support down at her from a balcony.
She cheerily told reporters at the US Open: ‘I mean, obviously straight after that I went on holiday so to a certain extent I tried to remove myself as much as possible but I mean it’s hard to not notice the traction it got when I walked down the street and people are shouting down from the balcony, “GOOD ON YOU!” That was a new experience.
Konta row with journalist at Wimbledon
Journalist: Looking at numbers, 33 unforced errors, then you had a smash at the net which you hit straight to her, then towards the end of the third set you had a double-fault, then missed a drive volley. Do you not have to look at yourself a little bit about how you cope with these big points? It’s all very well saying it’s a lot to do with your opponent, but there were key points when you perhaps could have done better.
Konta: Is that in your professional tennis opinion?
Journalist: No, that’s just as a watching spectator with everyone else on Centre Court willing you on. And the numbers are IBM’s.
Konta: Okay. I mean, I don’t think you need to pick on me in a harsh way. I mean, I think I’m very open with you guys. I say how I feel out there. If you don’t want to accept that answer or you don’t agree with it, that’s fine. I still believe in the tennis that I play. I still believe in the way I competed. Yeah, I don’t have much else to say to your question.
Journalist: I’m just asking you as somebody who presumably wants to go on from here, learn from this, win a Grand Slam one day. Is it not something —
Konta: Please don’t patronise me.
Journalist: I’m not patronising you.
Konta: No, no, you are. In the way you’re asking your question, you’re being quite disrespectful and you’re patronising me. I’m a professional competitor who did her best today, and that’s all there is to that.
‘Yeah, I mean, it was a while ago now and it was what it was and I think everyone has kind of moved on.
‘I got a lot of recognition after that. I got more recognition after this Wimbledon than 2017 when I had like a massive viewership for my quarter-final so yeah, I don’t know why.’
Asked if she thought the reaction had been generally positive, she replied: ‘Again, I can only speak of the people who stopped me really. One woman shouted down from a balcony, I have no idea how she recognised me from the top of my head but you know, yeah.’
Konta takes on Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in the first round in New York on Monday. Results haven’t exactly gone to plan post-Wimbledon – losing both of her matches in Toronto and Cincinnati – but she opted against playing an extra event in The Bronx.
‘I think I’ve played over 50 matches this year. So I don’t think I’m short of matchplay, if you take it as a whole,’ she added.
‘Obviously, if you zoom in on those weeks I haven’t played then, yeah, I haven’t played maybe a lot of matches; but, if you zoom out, I’ve played a lot of matches this year. I have to take some perspective from that and realise I’ve played a lot of matches.
‘That’s what I based that decision on – and also giving myself the best opportunity to hopefully be here for a full two weeks, and to be here later in slams. It takes a lot out of you. I was just giving myself the best chance to be in that position. I may be or I may not be, but I gotta try.’
On Kasatkina, she continued: ‘She’s a tough opponent, I played her twice last year and lost both times. She’s quite an uncomfortable player to play, she gets a lot of balls back, good movement on her ball, she’s a really tricky player and I’m sure these courts will also play well off her balls.
‘I’m anticipating a tough match but I’m looking forward to it. It’s nice going into a match knowing it’s given that it will be a tough one and I feel good in the fact I’m going to go out there trying to problem solve and enjoy that more than anything.’
