British No.1 Johanna Konta believes self-sufficiency will be a key factor for her in the new year as she aims to return back to the top of women’s tennis.
Konta, who is a two-time grand slam semi-finalist, has experienced a mixed season on the tour. Finishing the year at a ranking of 39th in the world. Her lowest year-end position since 2015. During one period of the year, she failed to win back-to-back matches at six consecutive tournaments.
“I basically just ran out of steam,” Konta told reporters earlier this week. “That is pretty much what happened. It could have been for a number of different reasons, who knows?
“But I think better management is how I am trying to pre-empt that happening again.”
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom for the former world No.4. At the Kremlin Cup, her final tournament of the season, she reached the semi-final. Scoring wins over Elise Mertens, Daria Gavrilova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich. It was her second best performance of the year in terms of results. Her first was at the Nottingham Open in June where she reached the final.
Reflecting on her pre-season, the Brit is confident that she can rediscover the form that has taken to a ranking high of fourth in the world back in 2017.
“I think last season I didn’t have many quarter-final, semi-final opportunities so getting to the end of a tournament was definitely a good feeling to have in the last tournament of the year.” She said.
“We’ve been in this place many times and it doesn’t always guarantee that it kicks off well but I definitely feel I’ve had a very strong pre-season so that has given me a good chance to have a good overall 2019.
In the wake of her disappointing results, Konta separated from coach Michael Joyce. Joyce has also previously worked with Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. It is the third consecutive year that Konta has opted to get rid of her coach after Esteban Carril (2016) and Wim Fissette (2017).
The newest addition to Konta’s team is French mentor Dimitri Zavialoff. Who is best known for his 17-year collaboration with three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka. Zavialoff has also previously worked with Timea Bacsinszky.
“He (Zavialoff) is teaching me to be quite self-sufficient on court, it is much more of a partnership than I have had in previous coaching relationships.” Konta explained.
“Therefore hopefully it will make me better equipped to deal with challenges on court.”
Konta will kick-off her 2019 season at the Brisbane International during the first week of January. The tournament is set to feature seven top 10 players.