Johanna Konta

Jan · Hall of fame

Johanna Konta

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Like many here I had hoped that the long break at the end of this year would allow her to regain her fitness and play 1 more year so that she could go out on her own terms but alas it was not to be. Jo has always appeared to be someone with a very balanced life away from the court and I think that makes the transition easier as she will have plenty to look forward too starting with her wedding. I hope to see her remain involved with the game in some capacity and surely a chain of Konta bakeries is somewhere in her future but most of all I hope she knows how much she is loved and appreciated by tennis fans for the wonderful performances she blessed us with.

-- Edited by theemptyvessel on Wednesday 1st of December 2021 04:37:42 PM

brittak · Pro player

Indeed sad but not unexpected news. All the very best for the future Jo and hope you and Jackson have a lovely wedding day.
Thanks for all the happy tennis memories! I am sure that you will do very well in whatever you turn your mind to. Best of luck.

emmsie69 · ATP level

It's been clear she has been transitioning to a life beyond playing the last year or two, shame her knee and Covid conspired to almost force the decision without a swansong tournament. She's someone who will thrive outside of tennis but I'd love for her to eventually have a prominent role either within the LTA or the WTA.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

www.wtatennis.com/news/2381391/how-johanna-konta-found-peace-in-decision-to-retire

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Sad to see Johanna retire as its been interesting and fun to follow her tennis career. I will remember her Fed Cup match in Bath when she really did give her all before collapsing on court. As always with Joko, its a well considered and positive decision with a very appreciative attitude to everything tennis has given her. I wish her every success going forward and look forward to seeing how her future develops, hopefully with some connection to tennis.

LordBrownof · Futures level

Just to add my two cents, I followed Jo through ITFs closely and there was no indication she was going to reach the dizzy heights that she did. That was, until Eastbourne when she beat Diyas, Makarova, and then Muguruza. But that was just one tournament - to then see her make 4th round of the US Open (beating Gabine again and Osaka) and then in Wuhan beating Azarenka and Halep was quite extraordinary. The excitement I felt was that akin to Emma in New York but Jo's power game and all out attack made her a firm fave.

So many stats to take pride in - number 4, 3 semi's on 3 different surfaces, her h2h record against top players (is there anyone she didn't beat?) to name a few.

I'm so grateful we had a top player to follow. And whilst her lack of transparency was often tough to become a complete fan, her game was so exciting to me that it didn't matter.

Thank you, Jo!

GAMEOVER · Pro player

GAMEOVER wrote:
Crispy wrote:
Congratulations on a fantastic career Jo; at her best - she was outstanding, and has beaten pretty much everyone out there. All the best for the next part of your life Jo!
Beating pretty much everyone out there includes Jo giving Serena Williams the heaviest defeat of her career.

I had a look at the wins and losses on the main WTA tour . Jo had 183 wins and 119 losses. She pretty much had a win over all the leading players. Her final match win over Svitolina gave her a 1-4 record there. The player she played the most was Venus Williams 8 times with a 4-4 record. She played Donna Vekic 7 times with a 4-3 record and Shuai Zhang 7 times with a 6-1 record. That was the player she had most wins against including Nottingham final 2021. Two of her favourite opponents must have been Magdalena Rybarikova and Sloane Stephens who she had a 4-0 record with. Her worst match up was Barbora Strycova who she lost to 3 times and never beat. In her earlier career on the ITF circuit she had a 212-124 record. In all she won 395 matches, lost 243 which totals 638 official singles matches. That does not include Fed Cup qualifying or qualifying in singles on ITF or WTA . It does not take into account doubles either which probably takes it over the 1,000 mark on tour.

GAMEOVER · Pro player

In the WTA rankings of 6th December , Jo's name has disappeared so that means that she is "officially retired " and not just retired. Sometimes players announce their retirement but stay on the ranking list until their points drop off in time. All the British players move up one place in the British ranking list so Harriet is now number 3 and Sarah Beth is now number 10.

markymc1983 · Club Coach

I haven't seen many players congratulate Jo on her career .has anybody else?

christ · Futures qualifying

markymc1983 wrote:
I haven't seen many players congratulate Jo on her career .has anybody else?

Sorry, I haven't seen any players.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Just reading down this and first post is from Kim Clijsters, then Alize Cornet , Tara Moore, Billy Jean, Elina Svitolina, not sure if there are many more though

twitter.com/JohannaKonta/status/1465998082550771714

GAMEOVER · Pro player

markymc1983 wrote:
I haven't seen many players congratulate Jo on her career .has anybody else?

Perhaps you should look a bit harder on LTA website/ social media. Jo had best wishes from amongst others E. Bouchard,D. Vekic.C.McHale. S,Rogers.,E Monfils J Delgado, K. Mladenovic, A. Croft, BJ King, A. Lapthorne,T Moore, C.Fleming ,The Elena B. Foundation. Jo was always popular amongst the WTA players because she was always voted back on the players council.

TTMan · Intermediate Club Player

Irony upon irony upon irony...

At the start of 2019, the then British number ones, Kyle Edmund and Jo Konta were amongst the first to pay tribute to Andy Murray on his retirement announcement. Jo was thus quoted in The Independent:

I feel like he really maximised everything that he has and left no stone unturned to bring the best out of himself, Thats something as an athlete to look up to. It makes me quite emotional because thats a beautiful thing. If he is unable to retire on his own terms and is forced to retire I think thats something which no athlete wants to be put through, so everyone will have a lot of compassion and a lot of sadness for him if he has been put into that position.

As we now know, Jo is gone, forced out by injury. Kyle's future is uncertain, forced on him by injury. Andy has been nominated for ATP comeback player of the year. And we have two completely new British number ones.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-retirement-australian-open-tributes-britains-greatest-ever-sportsman-a8722371.html

https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/andy-murray-retirement-tennis-stars-pay-tribute-role-model-scot-1423554

Jan · Hall of fame

A tweet from Johanna......Congratulations!!

Johanna Konta
@JohannaKonta
·
35m
So

Yesterday I got married.