	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NATURE VALLEY INTERNATIONAL

June 25, 2019

Johanna Konta

Eastbourne, England

J. KONTA/M. Sakkari

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A good win. How relieved are you to get through?
JOHANNA KONTA: I'm very pleased to come through that. I think there was so little in it and in both sets. Our points actually felt that she was playing better than me, so I was just really pleased that I was able to stay with her and create a few opportunities and take a few of them. So, yeah, pleased I have come through.

Q. When you had that wobble with the break of serve at the end of the second set, it seemed like you found another gear to go into again.
JOHANNA KONTA: Which wobble?

Q. When you went 5-3 down in the second.
JOHANNA KONTA: Oh.

Q. You seemed to find another gear to take it to the tiebreak.
JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, to be honest, I actually felt pretty similar throughout the whole match. I didn't feel like I dropped my level necessarily there.

Maria played well, to be honest. Yeah, no, I'm pleased I was able to stay calm and also just a good perspective. I don't think anything major happened. It was important to see it that way and see the good things that I was doing.

Yeah, I mean, it could have easily gone to a third set, so I definitely wasn't taking anything for granted out there. Yeah, just pleased to have just, yeah, kept a good perspective and just competed well.

Q. In your section of the draw, obviously Barty pulled out and Svitolina went out today. I know you don't like to look too far ahead. Are you conscious during a tournament of sections opening up?
JOHANNA KONTA: No. No, I just know who I play next. I don't even know what section I'm in. Sorry.

Q. How do you feel about that match?
JOHANNA KONTA: I'm looking forward to it. Ons is a great player. She really can play the game well. She's been playing better and better over these last few months. I know she played well in Moscow last year, as well.

Yeah, I think she will probably enjoy the surface, probably play the game well on the surface. It will be a great challenge for me. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. How do you feel your game is compared to two years ago when you had that really good run here? Do you feel you're playing different stylistically?
JOHANNA KONTA: I'd like to think I'm just improving more than anything. I definitely am not -- I'm still the same player, because I still bring the same things to the court. However, I'd like to think that I'm continuously adding to how I play and like to think just getting better.

Q. How refreshing is it being at home?
JOHANNA KONTA: Oh, it's nice. I get to spend some time with my parents, which is nice. Yeah, I mean, the courts here are beautiful. It's nice just to be able to go home.

Q. Does it give you a bit of a chance to rest mentally ahead of Wimbledon next week?
JOHANNA KONTA: I wouldn't say it gives me a chance to rest mentally. I think it gives me home comforts, which is nice. But every tournament is challenging, and so this is no different.

Q. What's the most comforting of home comforts? Is there something special you get when you go home?
JOHANNA KONTA: My mum -- well, actually, no, she wasn't working today. She makes me breakfast, which is nice.

Q. Do your parents still come and watch you?
JOHANNA KONTA: Yeah, they were both here today.

Q. What is that breakfast?
JOHANNA KONTA: I had some fruit salad this morning, and she made me some fried eggs and toast. Yeah, nothing crazy. It's just nice to have someone make breakfast for me.

Q. Do you still get told off when you do something wrong?
JOHANNA KONTA: No, not -- well, probably. I don't know. I don't do many things wrong, I don't think (smiling).

Q. We were talking to Ash Barty yesterday. She was saying this tournament is a bit special for her because it was the start of her comeback. That was 2016. Do you think of this as the start of that -- you had that amazing run on the American hard courts, but it sort of started here. Do you think of it in those terms?
JOHANNA KONTA: No, not for me. I mean, I definitely have a lot of great memories here. I had a lot of great wins here the beginning of my career, but I don't associate anything really with one specific tournament.

But I think probably the tournament where I have had a lot of my firsts would be US Open more than any other one.

Q. Is your bedroom still the same at home as it was when you were a kid?
JOHANNA KONTA: Well, my parents moved here 10 years ago, so I was 18 when they moved here. So it's probably the same since I was 18, yeah.

Q. Which posters did you have up?
JOHANNA KONTA: I don't have any posters up.

Q. You really are perfect, aren't you?
JOHANNA KONTA: Well, not really. They're renting the property, so I don't think I was allowed to put anything on the walls (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297