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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIAMay 18, 2019Johanna KontaRome, Italy J. KONTA/K. Bertens 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did you think 'Italian Open finalist' would be on your résumé soon? How big a result does this feel like for you on the clay, this big a tournament? JOHANNA KONTA: I think, I mean, obviously I'm very pleased to be in the final here. It's my second biggest final behind Miami. That's a big achievement in my career so far. I'm definitely very conscious and appreciative of this opportunity, of this situation. But, yeah, I mean, I've never really doubted my ability on the surface. I don't necessarily feel like this is massively out of the blue or super wow. But I'm definitely pleased, so... Q. Talking about the match today, a little bit tough conditions with the wind and everything, the court. What do you think was the key in terms of getting that done the second two sets? Seems like you elevated the level, were aggressive. JOHANNA KONTA: I knew going into the match that playing against Kiki, I mean, she's playing some of her best tennis right now in her career. She came off of winning Madrid. She's definitely in amazing form. She's No. 4 in the world. She's one of the best players right now. I knew going out there that there wasn't going to be one solution. It wasn't going to be one answer or one specific game plan that was going to be, yeah, like: Wow, that's okay, I've cracked it. It was going to be a continuous adjustment, a continuous openness to figure it out within the match. I thought I did that well. I stayed very open in trying to find a solution in each point, in each ball. I just trusted that. I kind of accepted both ways. I mean, after I lost the first set, I mean, I didn't do much wrong. It was a very good set of tennis. Equally the second set, as well. There wasn't anybody putting a bad foot out of line. In the third, I definitely felt that I was able to maintain my level a bit better than her. I think that gave me the upper hand in stringing some more points together. I'm just very happy to have come through. Q. We spoke to Kiki. She wasn't surprised at your level. She had a lot of praise for you. Do you see yourself as a top-10 player in terms of how you approach things, your confidence, when you are playing a player on such good form? JOHANNA KONTA: I've never associated myself with a ranking. I've never pigeonholed myself to a specific number. I've always gone about my career with the intention of wanting to be the best in the world. That's why I play. That's what I hope to achieve one day. But I'm also very aware that there's a number of girls around me who are doing the same thing. It, yeah, isn't anything specific like that. Q. Many people associate clay with more defensive tennis. Seems there's a growing of players on the women's side attacking, Petra doing well on clay, Pliskova, Keys. I'm curious if you always knew that your style of game could translate with little editing or if there's more adjustment than we might notice on this surface? How have you been able to translate your tennis to this game? JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, to be honest, when I was younger or even in my young professional career, I won most of my titles on clay. I won a lot of my first junior titles, first professional titles on clay. I've always felt that I have a game that has the ability to do well on this surface. It's unfortunate in the previous couple years I didn't get as many opportunities as I would have liked to have done better results-wise. However, I never really felt inadequate on the surface in any way. In terms of adjustments, I think the work that I'm doing right now, in general, I think translates onto all surfaces. I think me trusting and enjoying the work that I'm doing is just giving me just a good space to really express myself on court and play the way I want to play. It's nice that I'm getting some rewards for it this week. Most importantly, I'm just enjoying what I do. Q. I suspect quite a few people back in Britain, the question would be, Why now? What is it that's kind of come together? I'll ask it for them. JOHANNA KONTA: The light bulb just went off (laughter). Q. Right, you just discovered how to play tennis. In terms of trying to explain the results of the last few weeks starting at Fed Cup, basically since Miami, if that was the question that was posed to you... JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, even before that, to be honest, I had a couple of really great matches in Australia even. Even in Melbourne I had a really tough first round against Ajla, which gave me a lot to come through a match like that. Even the match against Garbine in the second round was a ridiculous match in terms of level. It was a great match. Coming on from there, I had a good Fed Cup in Bath, as well, in February. Again, I played four three-set matches there, some really tough battles. Equally, I thought I played some good tennis in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami. There's always a progression to things. It's always things build on top of each other. In my case, it's never suddenly. I doubt in anyone's case. There's a lot of things that go into finding good form or finding good rhythm and just being able to build on it. I think most importantly I've really committed to the work that I'm doing with my team right now. I really believe in it. So every day I show up to work, I show up. I really enjoy the work that I'm doing. I'm there, and therefore I feel like every day I'm able to just keep adding and keep building. There's no days that I can remember since pre-season where I haven't grown in some way or haven't been able to add something in some way, which is probably the most satisfying part of my career. You're going to win matches, you're going to lose them. For me, if I feel like I'm getting better in any respect every day, it makes my job a lot more enjoyable. Q. Looking ahead to the final tomorrow, what are your thoughts on each of the potential opponents? JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, I just play Maria two weeks ago in the last final, so that would be pretty ridiculous if we played, pretty amazing. I mean, Maria is playing with an incredible amount of confidence and trust in her game which makes her game that much more dangerous and difficult to play against. She is a very tough opponent. On the clay she's playing very well. If I play her, it will be a nice rematch from Rabat. It will be a fun match to play. Then equally against Karolina, she's been at the top of the game for years now. She's able to perform on all surfaces. She's able to really show up to every match. She's very difficult to play in that sense because she has a big serve, she has big shots, but she's also backing it up with being incredibly astute on court. Yeah, I mean, it's a final of a tournament, so you're not going to have an easy match whoever you play. Q. When Bertens' racquet hit the line judge, there was a conversation with you and the chair? JOHANNA KONTA: No. Q. He was talking to someone. I couldn't tell who. JOHANNA KONTA: No, I didn't go up to the chair. He did say something, but I didn't have a conversation with him. Q. You don't think about your better performance now is because the pressure on you by media, English media, a little bit less compared to what you received two or three years ago when you had the accident on grass, I remember something like that? Second, do you think your best quality is to adapt to the situation technically or mentally? JOHANNA KONTA: Well, I've never really felt a tremendous amount of pressure from the media at home. One, I don't really read it. Two, I play for myself. I play for the enjoyment of what I get, hopefully what I give out on court to the crowd who come watch. I did all right after I fell. I made semis the next fortnight, so I think I was okay (smiling). Otherwise, I mean, the second question? Q. If your qualities are better mental to be able to adapt to the situation or technically able to do a lot of things? JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, I think there's always going to be an element of both. It's never going to be one or the other. However, I think once you are at this level, most players are very capable technically as well as mentally. I think it usually comes down to maybe more mentally being able to accept whatever situation you're faced with, yeah, doing your best within that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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