British number one Johanna Konta has officially announced that former mentor of Maria Sharapova, Michael Joyce, will be her new coach for the 2018 season.
Joyce is a highly successful coach as he worked with Sharapova for seven years between 2004 and 2011. During that time the Russian won two grand slams in New York and Melbourne as well as becoming world number one.
The Californian has a big reputation and will look to use that to his advantage as he looks to lead Johanna Konta to her first grand slam in 2018.
The Brit officially announced the news in a statement today. “Michael is a fantastic coach with a great pedigree and I’m really excited to work with him. Our first tournament together will be at the Brisbane International and the plan is for Michael to travel with me full time through 2018.”
Despite the good news, Joyce will need to be wary that if he doesn’t provide brilliant results with Konta in 2018, then he may not be with the Brit for very long. This is as in two consecutive seasons Konta has reached a grand slam Semi-Final and in those same seasons she has fired both of her coaches.
We will see if this partnership is a success when Johanna Konta begins her 2018 in Brisbane, which starts on the 31st of December.
