Johanna Konta facing tough preparation for Australian Open as she looks to put teachings of new coach to the test

Exclusive interview: Konta speaks to Paul Newman on the start of her new season, which kicks off on Sunday

Konta is currently world No 9 after ending last season early with injury (Getty)

You can always tell the strength of a tournament by the players who are not seeded, as Johanna Konta discovered to her cost as she prepared for her first match of the 2018 season. The 26-year-old Briton is one of the eight seeds at the Brisbane International, which begins on Sunday even before the old year has ended, but has been handed a major task in the first round, in which she will take on Madison Keys, the world No 19.

With the Australian Open beginning in just 16 days’ time, you can usually guarantee that the field here will be of the highest quality. This time it includes nine of the world’s top 20 players, with Konta, the world No 9, pulling out the short straw to be paired with Keys, who was runner-up at last year’s US Open.

Konta won their most recent meeting, at the China Open 15 months ago, in three hard-fought sets. “It was a really good match - a long one and a competitive one,” the Briton said here shortly after learning of her draw. “We actually practised together yesterday. She’s a good player. She did well during the US season. Making the finals of the US Open is no easy feat. I know she can play really well. But I’m ready to go out there.

“Different players bring different challenges. Against her my challenge will be to stand my ground as best as I can, and look to really get a foothold in the match, accepting the fact that a lot of things are played off her racket.

“She’s a big player with big shots and a lot of the times she will make you feel like you are not having much say in what’s going on out there, but that’s the kind of player that she is. That’s what I have to deal with.”

It will be Konta’s first competitive match for three months, the Briton having brought an early end to her 2017 campaign after a disappointing run which saw her lose her last five matches of the season. She also wanted to a rest a foot injury which had been troubling her for several months and which she says will need “continuous management” in the weeks and months ahead.

Konta arrived here after a week in Thailand, where she combined her final spell of pre-season training with two exhibition matches. She beat Jelena Ostapenko but lost to Simona Halep, the world No 1.

Konta has been training in Roehampton, where she was joined by the Dutchess of Cambridge (Getty)

“It definitely was good to be back playing matches and I really enjoyed it,” Konta said. “I missed it a lot. I’m really looking forward to getting the season started and starting to compete again.”

Having done most of her pre-season work at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton, Konta was happy to have the chance to get used to warmer conditions in preparation for the Australian summer. Brisbane in particular is especially hot and humid as players in the qualifying tournament discovered on Saturday as the temperature peaked at 33 degrees.

“For Thailand it was apparently cold, but it felt warm,” Konta said. “It was 24 degrees and it got hotter and hotter and there was a bit of humidity in the air. In a way it was a perfect halfway point to here.”

Michael Joyce, Konta’s new coach, who will be travelling with her for most of the season, was with her in Thailand and is also here.

Michael Joyce is the man behind a lot of Maria Sharapova's successes (Getty)

“It’s been going well,” Konta said. “It’s been a month since we started working together. This is our first tournament. I’m excited to start the season and to start working together and getting better.”

Joyce, a 44-year-old American who used to coach Maria Sharapova, brings a wealth of experience. “I’m just trying to feed off his knowledge,” Konta said. “I think he brings a bit from all the different coaches I have had previously. I think he is a nice combination of a few of them. He’s a really great person. He cares and he loves his sports as well. I am enjoying his experiences and his stories of when he was a player.”

Konta has played here in Brisbane only once before, having lost in qualifying to the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko four years ago. The Briton was ranked No 156 in the world at the time, which enabled her to play for the first time in the qualifiers for the Australian Open, where she fell in the second round. It was also the first time she had returned to Australia, the country of her birth, since her departure for Europe in 2005.

Heather Watson is not ranked high enough to earn direct entry into the tournament here but moved to within one victory of a place in the main draw when she beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-4, having beaten the American Danielle Lao in the first round. Watson now faces the highly experienced Estonian, Kaia Kanepi.

Andy Murray, who is continuing his recovery from a hip injury which has kept him out of competition since July, confirmed his place in the main draw here after coming through a practice set against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in Abu Dhabi on Friday evening. After a first-round bye Murray will play either Ryan Harrison or Leonardo Mayer.

Britain’s Kyle Edmund will face Canada’s Denis Shapovalov for the fourth time in less than a year. Shapovalov won a tight three-set contest at Queen’s Club, but neither of their other matches went the distance. Shapovalov was defaulted during their Davis Cup rubber in Ottawa after hitting the umpire in the face with a ball he had swatted away in anger, while Edmund retired hurt early in the fourth set of their third-round meeting at the US Open.