World No.9 Johanna Konta has been shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Award 2017. An annual sporting award where the winner is decided by a public vote.
Konta, who is one out of 12 athletes shortlisted for the honour, earned her nomination due to her success on the tour this season. At the Wimbledon championships, she defeated to Simona Halep in the quarter-finals. That match attracted a peak audience of 7.4 million viewers on the BBC, making it the most watched women’s Wimbledon match in history on British TV. Konta’s run at SW19 was ended in the semifinals by Venus Williams.
Besides Wimbledon, Konta has also won titles in Sydney and Miami this year. In the Miami final she defeated Caroline Wozniacki to become the first British player to win a WTA Premier title.
“This was a season when I experienced a lot of things I hadn’t done before,” Konta recently told reporters.
“It was my first season starting as a top-10 player and with that comes more responsibility and more strains on your time and that’s an adaptation process for anyone.”
The 26-year-old has ended her season with a win-loss record 40-18 and is currently looking for a new coach. She separated with Wim Fissette following a lacklustre end to the year. Failing to win a match at four consecutive tournaments.
Athletes shortlisted for the award are decided by a panel of 12 people from different areas of the sporting industry. This year’s panel included representatives from BBC Sport, five-time Olympic medallist Katherine Grainger, former athlete Darren Campbell and members of the national press.
Should Konta make the top three in the upcoming Sports Personality Of The Year Award, she would become the first female tennis player to do so since Virginia Wade in 1977. In contrast, in 2016 Andy Murray became the first athlete to win the honor for a third time in his career after 2013 and 2015. Murray didn’t make the shortlist this year after ending his season early due to a hip injury.
Roger Federer could also win an award at the event after being nominated for the overseas sports personaility of the year category. The 36-year-old has won two grand slam titles and ends the season as world No.2. His rival, Rafael Nadal, has not been nominated. Nadal also won a duo of grand slam titles in 2017 and is the current world No.1.
The awards ceremony will take place on December 17th in Liverpool at the Echo Arena. It will be the 64th edition of the event.
Full list of Sports Personality Of The Year nominees
Elise Christie – Short Track Speed Skating
Sir Mo Farah – Athletics
Chris Froome – Cycling
Lewis Hamilton – F1
Anthony Joshua – Boxing
Harry Kane – Football
Johanna Konta – Tennis
Jonnie Peacock – Para-athletics
Adam Peaty – Swimming
Jonathan Rea – Motorcycling
Anya Shrubsole – Cricket
Bianca Walkden – Taekwondo
