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US OPEN

September 3, 2019

Johanna Konta

New York, NY, USA

E. SVITOLINA/J. Konta

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It felt like you played pretty well out there, and she made you play that extra ball. Is that how you saw it?
JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, definitely. I have played her three times or four, I think. Haven't beat her yet. I do feel that was the probably the best I felt her play against me. She played so well, to be honest.

Actually, I didn't play badly at all. I actually felt like I was doing a lot of good things out there, a lot of the right things.

Like you observed, I mean, she just made me play that extra ball. I mean, yeah. I mean, it's frustrating. You know, I would have loved to have come through that and come through a challenge like her, but I guess it will just have to be next time.

Q. It's been kind of three really inspired opponents for Paris, London, and now here. Do you feel like it's just a matter of continuing to put yourself in these positions to get another shot? Maybe there is something different in terms of preparation?
JOHANNA KONTA: Oh, no. I mean, I definitely think it's just, you know, the more opportunities I give myself like this, the more chances I have in going a step further and even more steps further.

I don't have any regrets or any hindsight in what I did before or during the match. I think I did a lot of good things. I think I can definitely still get better and better, especially against an opponent like today.

Yeah, no, I can take a lot of good things from this still.

Q. So do you feel quite different to the way you felt after the defeats at Roland Garros and Wimbledon right now?
JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, I think every time you win a match or lose a match it feels kind of different. You know, there is always going to be disappointment and some sadness after losing a match, regardless of the round.

Obviously losing in the latter stages of a slam is a very good problem to have, but obviously you also want to be further and further.

Yeah, I mean -- yeah, it feels -- yeah, whatever. I don't know what else to say to that.

Q. I mean, the disappointment is perhaps not as acute today than perhaps you could remember after what you felt at Roland Garros and Wimbledon?
JOHANNA KONTA: No, I wouldn't say that. I think different matches ask different things, and today's match was a different match than I played in Paris. How I absorb it and how I go through it will just be different. Not necessarily worse or more difficult. It's just different.

I played a different player. I played a different game out there. I played on a different surface and different conditions. It was different challenges, different frustrations out there, and also different things I did well.

I think, yeah, there was still a lot of good things I did in that match in Paris. Actually, out of all of them, probably my match in Wimbledon is where I didn't feel like I did as well as I wanted to or could have. But no, today I thought I played well. It's just unfortunate that I played a player who played better (smiling).

Q. The other day, if I got it right, you were saying in part because of your coaching you were playing with a certain freedom out on court. I was just curious, is that physical or mentally? Could you just talk about that sense of freedom a little bit.
JOHANNA KONTA: No, it's more of a sense of just a freedom to play and more in decision-making and what I'm doing out there and how I'm playing and in making choices and just enjoying that and having the freedom to do that more than anything.

I think that's what Dimitri and Dan and everyone around me has really encouraged in my development right now, and I have encouraged it too in me being just more self-sufficient and me making my choices both on and off the court.

I think it just, yeah, basically enables me to be very much myself out there.

Q. So it's empowering? It brings you forward in the game on and off court, as well?
JOHANNA KONTA: Yeah. I mean, I think it's helping me grow. I think it's helping me develop. Definitely I think when you're in charge of your own decisions and your own development, I would say it's an empowering feeling, yeah.

Q. Taking the Grand Slam season as a whole, three quarterfinals in successive slams, one semifinals, could you sum up your Grand Slam season and how you progressed and how that will take you into what's coming next season?
JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, it's the best I have ever done so far in my career. There is a lot to be proud of there. There's a lot to, you know, look back and smile on. Yeah, it's a nice achievement to have been able to do that.

I think as a season as a whole so far -- it's not finished -- I think I'm just pleased with how I feel I'm just getting better throughout the season. I still feel like I'm evolving and developing and just improving, which is nice to feel, being 28, as well. It's nice to feel that I've still got room to just get better in the sport.

Yeah, I mean, it's nice that I have had success at the slams, but overall just pleased with how I'm going about my career and enjoying the tennis that I'm playing.

Q. Towards the end of each of the last three seasons you have split with your coach. I'm anticipating you feel more content with Dimitri and he'll continue with you into next year?
JOHANNA KONTA: Yeah, I mean, those splits were never planned. I think the team I have around me I'm really happy with. I'm hoping they're happy, too. It's not all up to me when it comes to an end of a working relationship. There's also another person who has choices and decisions to make.

But from my side, I'm really happy with the people that I'm working with. Yeah, I'm enjoying the team.

Q. Dimitri the other day said he didn't feel like you believed in yourself enough. Does this run help you make you feel more confident in yourself moving forward?
JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, I don't really use the word "confidence" or "belief" or things like that. I find those words to be quite hollow. Sometimes I think they're just kind of thrown around. It's easy to say, Oh, just be more confident or believe in yourself. And what does that even mean?

I think what I look to do is to really take a lot of gratitude and a lot of good feelings from the work I do, from the people that I work with, from the relationships that I have, from the relationship that I have with the sport, different things, and I think that builds self-esteem. I think that builds as what you'd call confidence, I guess.

Q. What do you do now? Will you have a holiday or something?
JOHANNA KONTA: I'll take some time to recover and then I'll head to Asia. I'm not fully sure where I'm starting, whether it's Wuhan or Beijing, so we'll see.

Q. Do you know what you're doing at the start of next season yet? Have you planned that far ahead?
JOHANNA KONTA: No, we haven't spoken about it. But I'll be heading to Australia. That's easy enough (smiling).

Q. Do you think you might have time to see "Betrayal"?
JOHANNA KONTA: Yeah, I'm planning on it. Jacks and I will head down. Yeah, looking forward to it.

Q. On the back of your maturity, as you express it there, and also on the back of your development, back of a really good season, do you feel that you've got a slam in you over the next two or three years?
JOHANNA KONTA: I mean, I'm definitely working towards that. There is no reason why not. I definitely feel I have every ability to be able to do that.

I think also putting myself in these positions more and more, it can only lend itself to hopefully one day getting the chance. So, yeah, that is what I'm working towards.

Q. Will you be prioritizing qualifying for Shenzhen?
JOHANNA KONTA: The thing with the year-end Championships, I'd love for that to be a part of my schedule. There are so many moving factors with that. So many things depend on how other people are doing.

I don't really invest time thinking about chasing things in general, but anything specifically and including that I think if I do well in the next few events, then maybe it will take care of itself. Maybe not. I mean, I have been in the position where I have done very well in the end of the year and it did not take care of itself. You know, it will happen or it won't.

Q. You have been so close to the WTA Finals quite a few times. Do you think maybe in the past you have prioritized it or maybe made it too much of a focus in Asia?
JOHANNA KONTA: I don't think I ever massively put a lot of stress or pressure on it. I think I have always been able to see just how many different factors are around with how other players do and what tournaments are those players playing. There is a mad rush sometimes, like everybody wants to play this event and then no one is playing it.

You know, it gets quite messy at the end, and, I mean, I assume there is probably going to be a good four or five of us who are really close for those last couple of spots. It's usually by this time you can kind of see the top four or five, six are already set because they have won the slams and so they've got a lot of points.

So I think, yeah, hopefully. I mean, I would be massively pumped to play, but we'll see.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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