In our second installation of #WimbleWars, we discuss if home hope Johanna Konta is destined for greatness at this year's Championships. Wimbledon.com's Nick McCarvel and Michael Beattie go head to head. Have your say using #WimbleWars on Twitter!
NICK McCARVEL: Too soon for Jo
Everything in me believes that Johanna Konta can win the Wimbledon title one day. But can she do it this year? I don’t think so.
Unlike the uninhibited ball-bashing that brought Jelena Ostapenko her surprise first major - and first title of any sort - last month at Roland Garros, Konta is a process-driven player. She needs time to go step by step, and right now is not the right time for her to win her first Grand Slam trophy.
Not here at least. Not at Wimbledon.
Konta’s true breakthrough came in 2015 when she went from the No. 151-ranked player in March of that year to top 50 by the end of it. Then came the Australian Open semi-finals last January and now - 18 months later - she is an established top 10 threat.
But the favourite to win Wimbledon?
What about the four players that remain that are seeded ahead of her? Or the five-time champion in Venus Williams that is into week two at age 37? What about two-time major champions Victoria Azarenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova, veterans who know the bumps in the road in the second week of a major?
That’s the thing: Konta has only done this second-week thing at a major in actuality just twice, having made that semi in Melbourne in January 2016 and then the quarterfinals there again earlier this year.
As you go deep at a major, each match carries more and more weight, and with the scrutiny of the British press - and the weight of a nation watching along - Konta will need a few more Wimbledons to feel it all out. That’s the other thing: She had won just one match in five prior appearances at SW19 before her 2017 campaign. Every round here is new territory.
The process is positive for Konta, however. That three-hour, 10-minute triumph over Donna Vekic in the second round displayed true grit. And her handling of Maria Sakkari Friday was next-level.
She needs more time, however. And that’s a good thing: Jo Konta is going to be around the top of the game for a good long while.
MICHAEL BEATTIE: Home support could be decisive
There’s one indisputable factor in Johanna Konta's place at the head of the bookies’ favourites list: coaxing a few more patriotic pounds out of the pockets of British punters. But that’s not to say JoKo’s not in the running to go all the way at The Championships. It’s been a fine month on the grass for the Brit so far as we enter the fifth and final week of the season.
Konta is in the same boat as the other 15 women left in the draw: four wins from a Grand Slam title – not to mention her status as the fifth-ranked seed still in the hunt. She hadn’t been beyond the second round at The Championships before this year, yet with each round she has grown into the role of title contender, aided in no small part by her forays on foreign soil.
A veteran of the semis and quarters at these past two Australian Opens and the fourth round at the US Open in both 2015 and 2016, this is now familiar territory for the 26-year-old.
The world No.7 has played 13 matches on grass this summer, invaluable match time in this abrupt grass court season. After reaching the final in Nottingham and facing the in-form Vandeweghe early in Birmingham, Konta headed home to Eastbourne, where the damp conditions threw her into one of the most ominous double-headers she could have possibly drawn: back-to-back showdowns with Ostapenko, fresh from her French Open triumph, and Angelique Kerber, the world No.1. Konta beat them both before withdrawing as a precaution following that nasty fall against the German shortly before sealing victory.
Then consider this – of the 15 players left in the draw, Konta has tour-level wins against all but two: Ana Konjuh, who she has never faced, and Elina Svitolina, who has won both of their previous meetings. The Ukrainian, Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska are the only players with a winning record against her – combined, Konta leads the field 22-14.
Finally, it’s not just the pounds that are patriotic – Konta will ride the wave of fervent support from the Centre and No.1 Court crowds, as Murray has these past few years. And we all know how that turned out…
