24 December 2019

British No 1 tennis star Johanna Konta 'hopeful' to make Australian Open after prolonged knee injury

British No 1 Johanna Konta is 'hopeful' that she will be able to compete in the Australian Open next month after suffering from a prolonged knee injury. 

The 28 year-old revealed that she is yet to make a definite decision but that the 'flight is booked'.

On the 2020 season she said: "I'm not giving myself any deadlines. I will be ready when I'm ready.

"Hopefully that will be Brisbane [6 January] but, if it’s not then, it will be when it will be. I’m also planning to play Adelaide [13 January] and Melbourne [20 January] but I can only listen to my body. I have definitely booked that flight but I’m not going to be putting myself in that position if I’m not ready. I am certainly hopeful."

The injury, similar to tendinitis, went unmentioned throughout the year as to how much it was affecting her season. She started to feel the pain at the beginning of the season last January at Brisbane. 

By the time Wimbledon came she said that once she got on to the grass her knee was getting 'worse and worse' despite reaching the quarter-finals. 

The US Open was the next major tournament at the end of the summer, where she described the pain whilst playing as 'significantly worse' but still managed to reach the quarter-finals. 

"I had more tests done and took the decision to take time out to rehabilitate it. I was rehabbing until just before Moscow [a tournament in late October], but then decided to take a holiday and I've been in pre-season since that finished," she said.

The Sydney born player will start the 2020 season ranked No 12 in the world, eight places behind her career peak. 

Konta said: "We are raising the amount of time on court and slowly feeling like a normal tennis player again. I’m up to two hours a day on court – which is nearly normal – plus all the gym stuff."

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