Johanna Konta is forced to retire midway through her first-round match against Slovenia's Kaja Juvan due to an abdominal injury; Heather Watson makes it through to the second round but Francesca Jones bows out at the first hurdle on her Grand Slam debut
Tuesday 9 February 2021 14:06, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta was left in a state of "shock" after being forced to retire injured during her first-round match at the Australian Open.
Konta, ranked 15th in the world, won the first set 6-4 but was forced to concede the match after falling 2-0 behind in the second.
She appeared to sustain or exacerbate the injury when she stretched for a smash towards the end of the opening set, and required an on-court medical time-out to get treatment on her abdomen.
The 13th seed then left the court for treatment at the end of the set, and swiftly decided not to continue after losing her opening service game of the second set to love.
"I pulled my ab (abdominal) and that made it difficult for me to serve and that is why I had to retire," Konta confirmed during her press conference. "I feel like I am in a bit of shock, almost like having an out-of-body experience a little bit.
"I felt it in my second service game of the first set so then I was just conscious of trying to adapt well (by) using my legs more on serve as I was just starting to be aware of it and then my second last service game of the first set - that's when it started to get quite painful.
"I then again tried to manage it the best I could but then in my last service game of the first set, that's when I needed to intervene with the physio to try and offload it with tape and stuff like that. I haven't had an ab issue in a very, very long time."
"Overall, players are very grateful for the opportunity to play. We can't spend the majority of years training only and not being able to compete so the fact that we've had the opportunity to compete I know that everyone is very grateful for that,"
It was a further setback for Konta, who endured a difficult 2020 season due to ongoing issues with a knee injury.
Having recently reunited with her former coach Dimitri Zavialoff, hopes were high that the 29-year-old would be able to get her new campaign off to an encouraging start.
And she appeared to have been granted the ideal opportunity against an opponent ranked 104 in the world who has never made it beyond the second round of a Grand Slam.
But after making a good start the 13th seed's hopes were evidently hampered, and two games without winning a point convinced her to call time on her challenge.
Heather Watson scored a repeat victory over Kristyna Pliskova as she put her difficult quarantine experience behind her.
The British No 2 was one of the 72 players who had to stay in their hotel rooms for 14 days and she admitted it was the worst preparation she has ever had for a Grand Slam.
But Watson looked impressively sharp considering and, no doubt boosted by the memory of having beaten Pliskova at the same stage last year, she edged to a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) victory.
"It made the victory today sweeter because we'd been through a lot the last few weeks," said Watson, who used the extra mental strength she gained in two weeks of hard quarantine to battle through.
"We'd been through a lot the last few weeks. It was really tough mentally I would say the most. Physically I felt like I did a pretty good job in hard quarantine of working out pretty much every day and trying to keep up my fitness with what I could do."
Watson admitted the thought of potentially having to endure another quarantine has put her off enjoying too many of the freedoms now available to her, with fresh air and space the luxuries she is no longer taking for granted.
Watson said: "I would say I felt my body change a bit (in quarantine). When you're fit and strong, your body just feels hard. It just wasn't as hard as usual. I definitely lost some (fitness), but that's expected. Mentally I felt super strong because I'd got through it.
"My body's definitely sore. I've had an ice bath the last few days. I'm taking care of my body very carefully because actually four days ago, my left leg went into spasm and I couldn't finish practising.
"I was really worried about if I was going to be able to play my first round here. I don't get injured, so it was a surprise. Expected again with what we've been through. I tried to manage that as best as possible. Fortunately, it healed very quickly.
"Yesterday is the first day of practice where I felt like my game was starting to come back together. Having a Tuesday start was big, so I got lucky there."
Francesca Jones' Grand Slam debut ended in defeat to big-hitting American Shelby Rogers in 67 minutes on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old from Bradford went down 6-4 6-1 to the world No 57, a former two-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist.
Jones, who had come through three rounds of qualifying to make it to Melbourne, was born with the genetic condition ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia, which affected the development of her hands and feet.
She only has six fingers - plus two thumbs - and seven toes and plays with a specially adapted racket.
"I'm very realistic, and I don't like to be sat on cloud nine at all. So for me it's a nice start to the year, it's great to have this experience and it will add hopefully to my future," said Jones.
"It would be great to continue playing Grand Slams every week of the year, but it's also unrealistic. So for me, back to work, back to giving it everything every day, and I hope you guys see me soon, but in the meantime, I will just be knocking away at whatever door is next."
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