Johanna Konta can show age has caught up with Serena Williams, says LTA's Jeremy Bates

Breakthrough? Konta will aim to match her best Grand Slam performance with a win over Williams
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Paul Newman24 January 2017

Jeremy Bates, the head of women’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, believes that Britain’s Johanna Konta may be on the verge of her biggest breakthrough as she takes on Serena Williams for the first time here tomorrow afternoon (at about 2am GMT tonight) in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

“It’s going to be brutal and it’s going to be bruising,” Bates, Britain’s former Davis Cup captain, said here today. “I think they’re the best two players in the tournament. Jo has won nine matches in a row now, so I don’t think she could be in a better position. I really think she has a great chance of winning, though you never know with Serena, who has the ability to snatch matches out of nowhere.”

Konta reached the semi-finals here last year in what remains her best run at a Grand Slam event, but Bates believes the 25-year-old Briton has made significant progress since and will continue to improve. Although Williams has won 22 Grand Slam titles and $81.8m (about £65.3m) in prize money compared with Konta’s $3.4m (£2.7m), the more significant statistic could be the discrepancy in their ages.

“Serena is 35 and with the greatest respect to her, because she has been the best player in the world, her powers have to diminish at some stage,” Bates said.

“When you’re younger if you’re not playing well you can do something about it. From my experience, the older you get, you sometimes have days when you just haven’t got that ability. You have days when it’s not great and you almost feel like you’ve lost your powers.

“I’m not necessarily suggesting that’s going to happen, because Serena’s still an unbelievable player, but when you’re not serving particularly well, for example, these things start to become more of a factor and they’re not so easy to correct.

“I would like to think that Jo is certainly a match for her physically and in terms of ball speed. Serena might serve a little harder and might hit a little harder off the ground, but I don’t think there’s a lot in it.”

Neither woman has dropped a set so far in the tournament, but Konta has been the more consistent performer, hitting her serves and ground strokes with great power and accuracy. Konta looked at the top of her game against Ekaterina Makarova yesterday, as she had against Caroline Wozniacki in the previous round, while Williams struggled against Barbora Strycova and dropped serve four times.

18m followers on social media for Serena Williams compared to just  82,600 for tonight’s rival Johanna Konta

“Jo’s ball-striking and the power she generates is just unbelievable,” Bates said. “Her athletic ability now is outstanding. Wozniacki made her play a lot of balls, but Jo just hit her off the court. It took her 10 shots per rally to do it, but she matched everything that Wozniacki did and added interest all the time. Jo’s a world-class player and I think she’s still improving.”

Although Williams’ forehand has been erratic here, it is more likely that the two players’ serves will be the key. Konta has been broken only twice in her 36 service games so far – fewer than any other player left in the tournament – but Williams has dropped serve seven times. Konta has put 65 per cent of her first serves in court compared with Williams’ 56 per cent.

“It’s all about first-strike tennis for these two,” Bates said. “I think a lot of it will be down to how well they serve. They both have the power to win points pretty quickly in a rally situation. Jo’s serving yesterday, in the first set in particular, was unbelievable. Both Jo and Serena will be looking for second serves. Whoever’s not making as many first serves as the other is going to be under immense pressure.”

Australian Open Tennis 2017 - In pictures

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Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’ coach, singled out Konta as a major threat before the tournament started. “I’m particularly impressed by the way she plays without any doubt in her mind,” he said. “She commits 100 per cent to every shot.”

He added: “She’s playing fast, she’s serving well, she’s aggressive on every shot, taking the ball early, moving forward. Unless you’re a counter-puncher, which is not the case with Serena, it’s just about imposing your game. Both players will be trying to impose their game as much as possible.”

Konta has enjoyed immediate success with her new coach, Wim Fissette, who took over in December following her split with Esteban Carril and the sudden death of her mind coach, Juan Coto, who had done so much to help build her mental strength. Fissette has already coached four players – Kim Clijsters, Sabine Lisicki, Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka – to victories over Williams.

Bates thinks Konta can be a top-five player for years to come. “She’s the ultimate ruthless pro,” he said. “She’s a future Grand Slam winner. She’s always worked unbelievably hard, she’s always been very strong and she’s always had a lot of power. When you have the mental strength to go with it as well, it’s not a flash in the pan. This is a permanent thing. I do think she has the mentality to win the biggest tournaments.”

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