Johanna Konta (zimbio.com)
British No.1 Johanna Konta has thanked her fans for their ‘understanding’ after suffering her latest loss on the tour.
The Wimbledon semi finalist bowed out in three sets to Daria Kasatkina at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday. Konta was unable to convert a duo of match points to seal a straight sets win, crashing out 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2, to the Russian world No.24.
“It would have been nice to have taken one of the match points – however, that’s part of the game.” she said after the match.
“I can really look back at this match and take the good things, because I did do a lot of good things, and learn from the things I can try to do better.”
Konta, who is currently ranked 12th in the world, is bidding to get back on track after a poor end to 2017. Last year she failed to win a match after the Cincinnati Open in August. During the off-season, she appointed former Sharapova mentor Michael Joyce as her new coach.
Under the guidance of the American coach, the 26-year-old has only managed to reach the quarter-finals in one out of five tournaments this season. Since the start of this year, she has won six out of 11 matches played. Although none of them have been against a top 20 player.
“Not to lie, I don’t feel amazing.” She commented about her latest defeat.
“At one point I was laughing, I did think we were playing two separate matches because she looked fresh as a daisy.
“So that was not a great feeling, but I did the best that I could today.”
The upbeat mentality of the Brit comes ahead of what is going to be a key month for her. In March she will be bidding to defend a wealth of points as the defending champion at the Miami Open. She will also be bidding to better her run to the third round at Indian Wells, which takes place before Miami.
Konta has also taken to social media to praised her fans for the support they have given her. She currently has more than 84,200 followers on Twitter.
The next tournament for Konta will be Indian Wells, which will start on March 5th.