Vavel USA - And The Return Of The Men

I recently had the honour of being asked to write for Vavel USA, something of a burgeoning website, particularly when it comes to extensive tennis coverage. You can read my article on Johanna Konta by clicking on this link: http://www.vavel.com/en-us/tennis-usa/646446-eastbournes-johanna-konta-takes-on-the-world.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter. It's an adapted and updated version of my previous blogpost (written during the Australian Open in January), now including her great run to the Miami quarter finals, and her build up to the French Open. It also covers the recent news that the men will be returning to Eastbourne's Aegon International from next year, as well as the first announcements of the entrants for this year's event. More tennis news can be found on this blog's twitter page.  

From Eastbourne To The World - Johanna Konta Hits The Heights

She's known as "Eastbourne's Johanna Konta" to many, particularly to people in the part of the world where the WTA converges for one of its most popular tournaments - a week of intense competition, and practice, in a contrastingly relaxed atmosphere - the week before the bustle of Wimbledon. The Aegon International.

And last year's Aegon International saw "local" girl Konta begin her incredible journey from a player ranked way below 100 in the world, who had rarely even played a top player, to where she is now, just a few months later - regularly beating players in the world's top 20, and even top 10; reaching the last 16 at two consecutive Grand Slams; about to be ranked in the world's TOP THIRTY; and reaching a Major Semi Final.


Konta celebrates winning through to the Australian Open Semi Finals
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/johanna-konta-of-great-britain-celebrates-winning-her-news-photo/507009742

Her brilliant run ends in the Semi Finals, to 7th seed Angelique Kerber
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/johanna-konta-out-of-australian-open-britons-run-comes-to-an-end-in-semi-final-against-angelique-a6838371.html

It's no surprise - and completely understandable - that many at the venue of her latest achievements, the Australian Open, were keen to point out that, although she's now proudly British number one, she was born in Sydney, trained at the Aussie Open site at Melbourne Park as a child, and represented Australia until 2012!

I first heard of her, shortly before she took UK citizenship in May 2012, via the editor of EastbourneTennis.com, a site I'd contributed articles to. At the time, she was ranked 208 in the world, and became British No 6. There was certainly a degree of excitement that a promising player, who'd just turned 21, and who had moved to the UK with her Hungarian parents in 2005, was now to play for Britain. Even more excitement that the Aegon International could have a hometown player, given that she's lived in Eastbourne for the last few years.

We couldn't, though, have predicted the success she would have that week in June last year, or that she would soon go on to have in other arenas around the world.
 

In Hometown Action at Eastbourne's Aegon International last year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/11693580/Wimbledon-2015-Johanna-Konta-and-Heather-Watson-gear-up-for-SW19-with-impressive-wins.html

On a sunny but cold Sunday evening, in the Main Draw's 1st round, the world number 139 took on the world number 34, Zarina Diyas, and won. The Eastbourne crowd was a little sparse, but from the Monday and Tuesday, it quickly became apparent that the Aegon International is one of the best attended tournaments, from early on in the week, that you can find. So there was a big crowd when she beat Ekaterina Makarova, then ranked world number eight, 6-2 6-4. Her first win over a top ten opponent - but not her last. 

It's perhaps fitting that it was Makarova (now ranked 24 after injury, but twice a Grand Slam semi finalist and a former Eastbourne champion) that she beat in the Australian Open 4th round, 4-6 6-4 8-6, to become the first British woman since Jo Durie (now one of the best tennis commentators out there), at Wimbledon 1984, to reach a Grand Slam quarter final.

Konta was expected to win the battle of surprise quarter finalists, playing world number 133 Shuai Zhang. So there was a lot more pressure, but she duly obliged - triumphing 6-4 6-1, to end another long British wait - this time the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam SEMI FINAL since the aforementioned Jo Durie, at the US Open in 1983.

Her glorious run finally came to an end at the hands of the Australian Open's 7th seed, Angelique Kerber (who, incidently, has twice been a runner-up at the Aegon International!), 7-5 6-2. But her achievements at this tournament have taken her astonishing progress over recent months to yet new heights, and will live long in the memory. And the memories, the emotions and the atmospheres are, she's said, what she takes most from her great matches over the past few months.

At Eastbourne, she followed up her Makarova win with another sensational victory, beating Garbine Muguruza, before succumbing, in 3 sets at the quarter final stage, to eventual champion Belinda Bencic.

On my twitter page, I'd become used to hashtag-ing "HometownWin". When Roger Federer recorded more of his own in Basel a few months later, I couldn't resist tweeting: "Another #HometownWin in #Basel for #Federer. Who does he think he is, #Eastbourne's Johanna #Konta or something?!"

Her run at Eastbourne's 2015 Aegon International provided an unexpected extra dimension to a tournament which was back to being WTA-only, after six years of being joined by the men. Traditionally attracting top female players for decades, the addition of an ATP event was not popular with all of the tournament's faithful fans. And it was a smaller ATP event and so struggled to attract the very highest ranked players of the day. But over the six years, it brought the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. Many were very disappointed to see the men's event go, particularly when the extension to the grass court season had raised hopes of more top names.

The week after Eastbourne, Konta played Maria Sharapova in the first round at Wimbledon, and came off second best. But then came a 16-match winning streak, taking titles at the ITF Circuit, the level just below the WTA Tour, qualifying for the US Open, and sensationally reaching the 4th round. Another incredible win over Muguruza (who now had "Wimbledon finalist" added to her list of achievements), followed by yet another top 20 scalp, Andrea Petkovic, saw her face twice Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova in the last 16, where she lost in 2 tight sets (7-5, 6-3).


Konta repeats her Eastbourne win over Garbine Muguruza with an epic triumph at the US Open
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3221354/British-world-No-97-Johanna-Konta-upsets-ninth-seed-Garbine-Muguruza-longest-Open-women-s-match.html

But the bubble had not been burst. A few weeks later she qualified for the Wuhan Open, reaching the quarter finals, where she lost to Venus Williams, from 5-3 up in the final set. But on the way she beat Petkovic again; Victoria Azarenka, who retired injured after Konta won the 1st set; and World No 2 Simona Halep, from 1-5 down in the final set. At that moment in time, it wasn't inconceivable to describe her as being in the hottest form of any female tennis player on the planet.

She probably didn't want her 2015 season to end, and 2016 started with two first round losses - in Shenzhen and Hobart. Now ranked high enough for automatic entry to these events, it was wondered whether she may have lost the competitive edge that playing your way through the qualifying of an event can give a player. 

But then came her Australian Open first round win over Venus. Playing one of the game's All Time Greats, now back in the world's top ten, was an incredibly tough draw. She was certainly aided by Venus being hampered with a heavily strapped thigh, but the positive power hitting and mental resolve, that few of us had expected in such abundance from Konta, was again clear for all to see.
 


Konta beats Venus Williams - who made her British tournament debut in Eastbourne in 1997 - in first round of Australian Open 2016
http://www.skysports.com/tennis/news/31851/10136038/johanna-konta-knocks-venus-williams-out-of-australian-open

Last Saturday's 3rd round win over Denisa Allertova, the opponent she lost to in the 1st round of the French Open last May, indicated sharply just how far Johanna Konta has come since then. In that match she missed a lot of chances in an epic tussle. Many pundits said that this was all too typical of Konta's play in the previous 2 or 3 years. She had ups and downs, made the 2nd round of the US Open in 2012, closed in on the top 100, been tipped as a potential top 50 player, but hadn't managed to string the results together.

So what's changed? And where will she go from here? Will this prove to be her career peak? Or could she become a player like, for example, her semi final conqueror? Angelique Kerber made a similarly swift leap in the rankings a few years ago, and although she's suffered some dips in form, has become a fully-fledged member of the game's Elite.

According to Konta, the work on her psychology with Juan Coto, one of a trio of hugely influential Spaniards in her coaching team (led by Esteban Carril and Jose-Manuel Garcia) has been a major factor in her astounding improvement. She strongly credits this team for sticking with her after her LTA funding was cut.

She is now, she says, far less anxious on court, and in a fascinating interview with Donald McRae of The Guardian last October, she described how she "had to dig deep and find where my happiness comes from... The biggest part of the learning curve is accepting the lows and not getting too caught up in the highs either. Results come and go, tournaments come and go." Did everything suddenly click into place for her? "No. I really don't believe in that click moment. I believe in the process."  

She says "The Process" are, for her, the key words.

Taking Warming-Up For Wimbledon To A New Level

Eastbourne offers invaluable preparation ahead of Wimbledon for numerous world-class tennis players. Whether on the practice courts or during actual match play. But Gilles Simon and Feliciano Lopez took it to a whole new level by tuning up for today's first round encounter at the All-England Club by playing each other in the Aegon International final!
It's just the luck of the draw, of course. Lopez and Simon knew, when the Wimbledon first round matches were revealed on Friday morning, that if they beat Ivan Dodig and Andreas Seppi respectively in the Eastbourne semi-finals, they would face each other twice in three days. And, incredibly, considering they've both been close to the top of the game for much of the last few years, they'd only played each other once before - in 2008.
The Eastbourne final was a high quality match, despite the fact that second-seed Simon had struggled with a bug for most of the week, and unseeded world no. 39 Lopez is on the comeback trail after missing a significant amount of the season so far with a wrist injury.
31 year old left-hander Feliciano is unusual for a Spaniard in having a game ideally suited to grass, with his serve-and-volley and backhand slice. He's a three-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist, but is perhaps best known with the wider British public for Judy Murray's "Deliciano Lopez" comments! 
He appeared to have the edge throughout much of the first two sets of the competitive tussle, but Frenchman Gilles was showing his canny ability to rally without error and go for the right shots at the right time. Last week there were several occasions when it seemed his opponents might have too much game for him, but he confounded expectations - as he's often done throughout a career that has seen him reach the world's top ten. This was encapsulated when, close to losing the match in the second set tie-break, a return winner as Lopez attempted to serve-volley gave him the crucial mini-break to lead 6-4, going on to take the tie-break and set up a deciding set. 
But the first grass court title of Feliciano Lopez's career turned out not to be far away as he dominated the final set to triumph 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (5-7), 6-0. 
And this evening Lopez repeated the result - defeating Simon, the 19th seed at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11). Simon, whose play improved considerably by the end of the match (that third set tie-break seeing some truly brilliant tennis from both men), was very unlucky to have to face such a dangerous opponent in the first round. Lopez's Eastbourne victory saw him rise to 32 in the new rankings list - high enough for a Grand Slam seeding but, of course, just too late for this year's Wimbledon.

Watching Stosur Across The Globe

Eastbourne seems to bring the best out of Sam Stosur when she plays Nadia Petrova. 
Today Petrova, the world no. 13, and the Aegon International's eighth seed, was upset 6-2, 6-3 on Court Two in the first round by Australia's Stosur, currently ranked just one place below at world no.14, but therefore unseeded. 
Their career head-to-head record now stands at 6-4 in Petrova's favour, and the only match where Stosur conceded as few as five games against her Russian rival took place - yes, you've guessed it - in the first round at Eastbourne 2011 (6-1, 6-4).
True, Petrova beat Stosur in the semi-finals of Eastbourne 2008, but that was in the days when Stosur was just beginning to emerge as a singles contender, following her huge success in the doubles game.  
I watched Stosur beat Petrova on Court One in their first round encounter at Eastbourne 2011 - the Aussie's first victory over the Russian in five attempts. But it was their next meeting that would become probably the most significant of all their matches so far - certainly in terms of Sam Stosur's career.
Having had the opportunity to speak with her briefly during Eastbourne 2011, and tell her that my Aussie relatives in Brisbane were very proud of her as a fellow Queenslander, I was visiting them - as well as Sydney and Melbourne - a few months later, as the US Open began.
Watching the Australian TV commentators talking up her chances, I wondered how realistic they were being, and of course thought of the similar situation in the UK regarding Andy Murray. Sam's talent and potential is extraordinary, but the chances of her performing close enough to her best throughout the whole tournament didn't look good, even though her form had been reasonable during the North American hardcourt tournaments after Wimbledon 2011.
When it came to her third round match against Nadia Petrova, the commentators pointed out Sam's easy win against her at Eastbourne, and sounded confident of victory, even as she struggled in the second set, having taken the first. 
However, when I turned the TV off in my Melbourne hotel room, and headed for the airport, Nadia was leading 3-1 in the final set. It was over 24 hours before I found the result on the internet during a stopover in Singapore. I was somewhat surprised to read that Sam had won, and later discovered it was the longest women's match in US Open history since the introduction of the tie-break. She went on to have another epic win against Maria Kirilenko, having to go to a third set after Maria won the longest tie-break in women's Grand Slam history, 17-15. 
Given that she'd lost to Serena Williams a few weeks earlier in Toronto - and the fact that she'd underperformed in her only previous Grand Slam final (the 2010 French Open, against Schiavone), the chances of her playing the match of her life in the 2011 US Open final to beat an in-form Serena - which it seemed she might well need to do - looked remote. But that, of course, is exactly what happened.
Watching back in Eastbourne, it was close to midnight when she wrapped up the 6-2, 6-3 stunner; it was early evening in New York; and as she pointed out in the on-court interview, breakfast time in Queensland. My uncle, who has always been positive about "our darling Sam", including during some disappointing losses in the last few years, sent an email with the subject line, "We love you, Sam Stosur!"   

The French Open Begins, And Posters Spring Up In Eastbourne... The Tournament Must Be Fast Approaching!

So, the 2013 French Open is now under way. The match of the first day in the men's event has to be home hope Gilles Simon's five-set win over Australian former world no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. The Frenchman led 5-0 in the final set, and withstood a fightback from the legendarily tenacious Hewitt to eventually triumph 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 - the first time in his career he's won from two sets down.
At the moment Simon is scheduled to be the top men's seed at this year's Aegon International, and he's just one of the images that have sprung up in Eastbourne in the last few days, advertising the event. The posters were up in time for yesterday's Eastbourne carnival, and include Agnieszka Radwanska, Fernando Verdasco, Heather Watson, Laura Robson and Caroline Wozniacki. The latter two, of course, are due to face off tomorrow in the first round in Paris.
For a full list of the men's and women's entrants for Eastbourne so far, go to the tournament's official website at: http://aegoninternational.co.uk, or my former stomping ground (well, I had features published there, at least!) of http://eastbournetennis.com, where I understand they exclusively revealed this year's likely entrants in early May.

Players Battle Wind, Bartoli - Paszek Epic, Roddick On Court 3, Angelique "More Wins Than Anyone Else" Kerber, Sharapova's Near-Nemesis, Champ Seppi, Nadal's Grass-Court Conqueror, Hotshot Harrison, And More!

Something of the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to the title of this post, I know. But semi-finals (and quarter-finals as it turned out) day at the Aegon International was certainly action-packed. My VisitEastbourne guest blog on Friday's action can be read by clicking on this link: http://visit-eastbourne.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/aegon-international-guest-blog-friday.html. To view all the guest blogs and entry features - from myself, Matthew Arnold, Gabriella De Feo, Jack Gracie, Tommy Curran, and Steph Temple, click on "Home" at the bottom of my Friday feature. Alternatively, you can view them all by simply clicking on this link: http://visit-eastbourne.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Hingis, Rusedski, Martinez and Philippoussis Take Centre Stage... While Qualifying Battles Continue

My guest blog, on yesterday's events at Devonshire Park, for the VisitEastbourne website, can be viewed by clicking this link:
http://visit-eastbourne.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/aegon-international-guest-blog-sunday.html