Great Britain’s Johanna Konta will arrive at Wimbledon in the form of her life, thanks to a wonderful run at the Aegon International in Eastbourne that’s still going.
Yet Konta is not letting her success go to her head, in fact she is almost underwhelmed by it.
The Sydney-born daughter of Hungarian parents who now lives in Eastbourne admitted this week was "a breakthrough, at least on paper" and she describes herself as "humbled" by having 4,600 spectators cheering for her at one of tennis's most historic venues. But it goes no further than that.
"In terms of how I feel with my wins, I don’t value these wins any more than I value my wins from a few months or years ago," Konta told Wimbledon.com after beating the French Open quarter-finalist Garbine Muguruza to reach the last eight at Devonshire Park.
I’m naturally quite a highly strung person in some areas
"That’s the honest truth. It’s a very humbling experience, and I’m very grateful for that. It’s a pleasure to be out there and I can get emotional about it after the match, but there’s also a feeling of 'who am I for so many people to be giving an ovation?'
"To be honest, my parents were watching in the crowd and it’s been a long journey, so I’m really happy for them that they get to experience something like that."
While the British media and public understandably get fixated on the grass-court season that culminates in the Wimbledon fortnight, Konta is keen to keep her focus on the full tennis season.
Big win for @JoKonta91 against Hey Makarova in Eastbourne today. Her first top 10 scalp. And in her home town. Nice.
— judy murray (@judmoo) June 23, 2015She doesn’t lose sight of the many matches she has to play in less glamorous venues than a sunny and relatively windless Eastbourne.
"Everything is a progression," she says. "Things don’t happen from one day to the next. Everything I have done in my career so far has led me to be here.
"Obviously there is a difference between playing here and playing in the middle of nowhere in Alabama, but the competition is just as tough. The importance that each match has is the same for me. The size of the court is the same, the lines are in the same place, the net is the same height.
"Yes, it’s great to be here, but there is also something humbling about playing at a $50,000 tournament in Alabama. You meet a lot of great people and you get to experience things there that you don’t experience here. So this whole journey for me is one big experience."
Konta puts her revived form down to various factors, among them being more relaxed.
"I’m not as tense," she says. "I think I’m naturally quite a highly strung person in some areas. My family and my boyfriend would definitely say so. It’s hard to perform when you’re highly-strung, you need a certain relaxed state of being, and that’s the main thing we’ve been working on."
Asked to elaborate on being highly-strung, she would say no more than: "Let’s just say that I’m usually right in arguments!"
But it’s clearly more than that.
"When I was younger I may not have dealt with situations with quite as much calmness as I’m doing right now, and I believe what brings a lot of good things to me now is that I’m able to move on. I can roll with the punches more, because there are a lot of punches out there. I’m competing against people who want to win just as much as I do.
"The best chance I can give myself is that I be my own best friend."
