British No 1 faces Sorana Cirstea
Wednesday 2 September 2020 19:07, UK
Johanna Konta is bidding for a place in the third round of the US Open and faces the world No 77 Sorana Cirstea later on Thursday in New York.
The British No 1 will be looking to replicate the type of form she showed during her straight sets 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 victory over Heather Watson on Tuesday and at the Western & Southern Open last week.
"I think it was always going to be inevitably a bit more stressful," she said about meeting a fellow Brit so early in the main draw.
"Whenever you play a compatriot there is an extra level of anxiety and stress for, I mean, a number of different reasons.
"I was anticipating that [and] expecting that. I just wanted to put it to one side and enjoy playing a really good player and competing well."
Benoit Paire was withdrawn from the tournament after testing positive for coronavirus. He had been in New York for the best part of two weeks and had two negative tests before contracting the virus while in the bio-secure bubble.
"You know, it's just what it is right now, so I'm not trying to, I guess, think about it too much and just trying to take it each test at a time," Konta said.
"Each negative test I get back, I'm, like, 'Woo, I'm in it for another four days,'."
Away from events in New York, the subject of a proposed professional tennis players association continues to hold court in the tennis world, however, it's something Konta herself has not been consulted about.
"I actually don't know anything of it," she said. "The men haven't reached out to me, personally. I don't know if they have reached out to any of the other women.
"So actually, I didn't even know it was happening until our CEO, Steve Simon, sent an e-mail to the player council, opening up the conversation about how we felt about it, if there was any other thoughts that we had, if we felt we were well enough represented, if the player group felt like they were well enough represented.
"In terms of the need for it, I don't know. To be fair, I don't think I have put enough thought behind it. I think it's important to separate this year from other years when it comes to representation when it comes to just general frustrations. I think this year has been very challenging for everybody.
"I think overall from what I have heard from players in general, I think the women are quite well represented. Then again, there is always room for improvement. I don't know what that improvement looks like, though."
Back to matters on court and Konta, like Serena Williams, reserved great praise for Andy Murray after his round-one marathon victory over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.
"Overcoming the injury that he had, it just shows his tenacity and perseverance and love for his sport," Konta said of Murray.
"I think, for that, he is regarded a sporting hero back home and rightly so. He's a champion of Grand Slams and gold medals because of the challenger he is. He's so incredibly tenacious."
This US Open marks Konta's eighth at Flushing Meadows and her most-recent (last year) saw her reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Konta and her second-round opponent, Cirstea, have met once before on the WTA tour with the Brit taking the encounter in Eastbourne in straight sets.
Konta is in the bottom half of the draw and if she is able to better her 2019-run, and the results go according to the seedings, she would meet Serena Williams in the semi-finals.
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