Jo Konta, Wimbledon and Liverpool star, is embracing fame ahead of US Open and admits she is a contender
Konta couldn't believe Scousers recognised her after her historic run to the Wimbledon semi-finals
JO KONTA is amazed that her fame now extends as far as…Liverpool.
Konta was stopped on the street by tennis fans when she went to the city for fitness testing shortly after her historic run to the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The British No 1 is clearly proud of the way she has captured the public’s imagination, with her SW19 quarter final against Simona Halep earning record viewing figures for a women’s match.
Konta said: “The quarterfinal, it was 7.4 million. The most watched match of the Championships.
“I got recognised more at home. I got recognised in Liverpool, which I didn’t think I would – I don’t know why – I guess I just didn’t think I would outside of my area.
“I haven’t spent so much time at home since Wimbledon so I don’t know.
“t was also a kind of a Wimbledon period, a Wimbledon craze, so I don’t know… come November, no one really knows about tennis.”
Konta embraced her celebrity, enjoying a selfie with a Chelsea pensioner after a match
Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys was criticised for questioning Konta's Britishness in an interview
MOST READ IN SPORT
But if Konta can reproduce her Wimbledon form then she will still be in the public consciousness at the end of the year.
Fame has its pitfalls, though, as Konta discovered during Wimbledon fortnight.
Ahead of the Halep match, BBC radio presenter John Humphrys questioned her Britishness on the grounds of her being born in Sydney to Hungarian parents before they relocated to Eastbourne when she was a teenager.
Konta said: “I think a few people did come up to me to apologise because it did go down an angle that probably was not intended, but it happened.
“He maybe forgot I wasn’t a politician. He maybe never really interviewed an athlete. I think I basically didn’t answer like a politician does to him.”
But Konta, whose US Open campaign will begin on Monday against Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic, can skirt around an issue like the best politicians when she wants to.
She is one of EIGHT players who could become world No 1 after this tournament, where she has reached the fourth round in the last two years and where she has to be considered a contender.
Konta, said: “I believe I am. I believe so.
“I do believe 128 other female players [she means the other 127 in the main draw] are as well but yes, I consider myself a contender.”