Wimbledon 2016: Johanna Konta not letting OCD tendencies get the better of her in order to focus on her game

Konta admits she has learnt not to let her own idiosyncracies have an impact on her performances

Johanna Konta returns a shot during her semi-final clash against Karolina Pliskova at Eastbourne (Getty)

Johanna Konta might not be as obsessive as a player like Rafael Nadal, but the 25-year-old Briton admits that she has her own OCD tendencies. However, Konta tries to keep any of her own idiosyncrasies away from the court. The world No 18 has worked hard on keeping her focus on matters in hand rather than worrying about things that are beyond her control.

Nadal always wants to have his water bottles in exactly the same position in relation to his chair and Konta admitted: “If you notice I do put my water in a certain way. I have my own little things. I like to put them in one place in my bag.

“Not quite like Rafa, but my travel bag is actually quite funny - well quite worrying maybe. I have my casual clothes pile, my training clothes pile and my match pile. Everything’s quite nicely put together, so with the match clothes pile the dress goes with the little shorts underneath, and everything’s all just so. I put together all the stuff I need every morning. A lot of people who are close to me do laugh that I make my piles.”

Konta said she used to be similarly pre-occupied with how she did her bag-packing in the supermarket. “I’ve gotten a bit better with that, but I was the one always in charge of putting the groceries from the trolley on to the conveyor belt and I would put things in order and line them up nicely. I don’t do that as much these days. Therapy is working!”

For the most part Konta does a good job of focusing on her tennis when she is on the court. “I worry more about how I can accept and really be malleable and roll with the punches and really not get affected by change,” she said. “That’s what I spend most of my time doing, because there are so many ebbs and flow to a match, so much push and pull, so if you get caught up in really bossing things there you’re going to end up with a migraine at the end.”

Asked if there were some players who tried to play “mind games”, Konta said: “Those sort of things only affect people that let it affect them. I say ‘good morning’ to everyone, ‘goodbye’, ‘how are you’, ‘thank you’ - very simple things. But I also take a lot of pride in my work. I’m mainly here to work and do my best in my profession, so I try not to spend any of my time thinking about mind games.”

Konta said she had never sledged an opponent and had never been aware of anyone trying to sledge her. “Maybe they have, but I haven’t heard it. I’m so involved in my own affairs on court and how I want to fortify myself and do my best and play the game. That’s what I’m there for. I’m there to play tennis.”

She added: “You definitely want to present the kind of front that is maybe intimidating or that is much harder for the other player to feed off on court. You have to do what works for you. Some players play better when they’re going on full-on emotional roller-coasters, whereas other players feed off being ice-cool and very level.

“It’s very personal and there are very much two sides. I do what I feel will help me the best. I think I do put a bit of emotion into my matches. I get all fired up.

“It’s important to keep a feel for how the match is and how your opponent is feeling, but it’s mainly important to play the game and the tennis that is coming back, because if you get involved in the emotional side of things it can get a bit messy and you can lose your direction.”