British No 1 Johanna Konta 'heading in right direction' for US Open

Victories in the last four weeks over Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Ostapenko should give Konta encouragement going into this week’s Grand Slam

The Briton has fallen 41 places from her career-high position at No 4 in July last year (Getty)

Despite having being laid low by a virus which forced her to pull out of last week’s tournament at New Haven, the north American hard-court circuit has been a source of encouragement for Johanna Konta this summer.

After defeat to Dominika Cibulkova in the second round at Wimbledon completed a disappointing 12 months for the 27-year-old Briton – who has fallen 41 places from her career-high position at No 4 in July last year – victories in the last four weeks over Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Ostapenko should give her encouragement going into this week’s US Open.

“I’m happy with the matches I’ve played and the few that I lost I was still doing a lot of good things,” Konta said as she looked ahead to the year’s concluding Grand Slam tournament. “I played a lot of good players so I think I feel pretty good, heading in the right direction.”

Konta, who plays her first-round match on Tuesday against Caroline Garcia, the world No 6, is feeling in a better frame of mind than she did a year ago, when she lost in the first round here to Aleksandra Krunic, the world No 78, and did not win another match before calling an early halt to her season in October.

Earlier in the year she had reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and won the Miami Open, but later admitted that she suffered burn-out in the latter stages of the season.

“I think I’m definitely in a better mental and emotional space than I was at the end of last year,” Konta said. “Last year was actually very difficult for me, but I feel like that progression of me being in this space now is also testament to how I’ve been just working day-in, day-out this whole year so far.”

She added: “I think I just ran out of steam a bit last year, which was understandable. It was also a really good learning process for me. It was a really good opportunity for me to experience that difficulty, which I’d never had before in my career at any stage. That was something that’s going to be very valuable for me in the future.”

Konta admitted that it had taken her time to realise that she was suffering from burn-out. “It’s not something that you can just put your finger on,” she said. “It comes out in a lot of different ways, from just being irritable to not being able to handle adversity on the court – and there’s plenty of that.

Konta cut her season short last year due to burn-out (Getty Images)

“You’ve got to remember whenever you step out on court you’re subjecting yourself to constantly being challenged, and you’ve got to be in a frame of mind where you’re able to tolerate that. When your tolerance goes it becomes very, very hard to compete, because it’s just overwhelming.

“I definitely feel that going through that, I understood a bit more of that process as well and recognised which parts of me I needed to pay more attention to and what can’t go overlooked.”

Asked if her enthusiasm had been dented during that period, Konta admitted: “Obviously enthusiasm and motivation and desire to go out and train, that’s one aspect, but it’s also just general happiness.

“Even when you don’t have that energy and enthusiasm on a day-in and day-out basis – which you’re guaranteed not to have every day because it’s just impossible to maintain that – there’s still got to be an underlying purpose and happiness for what you do. Once that starts to get drained a bit that’s when you start to think: ‘What am I actually doing? How am I meant to be doing this’?”

Konta, who is getting over her virus and started practising again on Friday, has won three of her five previous matches against Garcia. They met twice last year, Garcia winning in three sets at Indian Wells and Konta winning in similar fashion at Wimbledon.

Konta faces Caroline Garcia in the opening round of the US Open (Getty Images)

“It’s a great opportunity for me to play against someone who’s at the top of the game right now,” Konta said. “I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be a great match.”

Konta denied that she had been able to play more freely since Wimbledon because she no longer had a lot of ranking points to defend.

“I enjoy being at the top of the game and that’s always my aim, to be there,” she said. “I want to be a part of the top-ranked girls. That’s what I work towards. I don’t feel better about myself if I am in the top 10 or the top 50.

“For me right now, it’s just about keeping myself healthy and playing as much as I can and keep getting consecutive matches under my belt and keep building myself up to the best level that I can.”