A few minutes after her 6-1, 6-4 fourth-round win over Ekaterina Makarova on Monday, Johanna Konta was told the name of the woman she would be facing in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

“Your next opponent is...” the on-court interviewer said, before lowering his voice ominously, “...Serena Williams.”

The crowd in Margaret Court Arena responded with a long, collective “Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh,” the way kids do when a classmate is called to the principal’s office. “Uh oh, Jo, you’re in trouble now.”

Konta laughed at the reaction, and then quickly made it clear that she didn’t think of playing Serena as punishment, but as the opportunity of a lifetime. So far the 25-year-old Sydney native and Eastbourne (UK) resident has avoided having to go up against the 22-time Grand Slam champion.

But when you play as well as Konta has so far this year, and reach the second week of a major, you can only avoid Serena for so long. If the crowd in Melbourne went “Oooohhhh” because they thought Konta was in trouble, many of us watching elsewhere did the same thing, because we’ve been looking forward to this match-up since the tournament began. Konta seems to feel the same way.

“I’ve accumulated, I think—I’ve prepared myself as much as possible to play a competitor like Serena,” Konta said on Monday.

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It’s too bad this will be a quarterfinal, because it has the feel of a final. We’ve known about Konta’s quality for the better part of two years now—she’s ranked No. 9—but her play so far in 2017 has still come as a revelation. She opened the season with a title in Sydney without dropping a set and hasn’t lost a set in her first four matches in Melbourne, but even that doesn’t tell you how self-assured and razor-sharp she has been. In each of her last three matches, I’ve tuned in expecting to see the first game, only to discover that she’s already up a break and is playing in fifth gear.

Konta’s serve, especially the wide one on the deuce side, has been a weapon. She’s taking her forehand farther up in the court and flat-out clubbing her backhand. Looking leaner and fitter this year, she keeps getting to balls I don’t think she can get. More than that, she keeps taking what look to be winners from her opponents and turning them into winners of her own.

“I think I’ve consistently been serving quite well this tournament so far,” Konta said. “I’m very happy with, also...how I’m able to build the point and how I’m able to stay strong within the points.”

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Playing the tennis of her life, Konta ready for the match of her life

Playing the tennis of her life, Konta ready for the match of her life

At first glance, it can be hard to figure out what Konta’s game is and where her pace comes from. She’s isn’t an obviously powerful athlete, like Serena or her sister Venus or Victoria Azarenka, but neither is she a grinding counter-puncher like Angelique Kerber or Agnieszka Radwanska. However we classify her, Konta is fun to watch, because she attacks the ball with everything she had.

Konta also brings a concentrated intensity to the court. You can see it in the way, as she prepares to serve, she raises her hand up high and spins the ball in her fingers. Where most players try to keep their service motions as simple and relaxed as possible, Konta goes out of her way to add an element that’s unnecessary, yet requires precision. If anything, Konta has said, her tightly-wound personality has made her too intense in the past, and that learning to loosen up mentally has been the key to her relatively late rise up the rankings. She wasn’t always as calm in the clutch as she has been this year.

“I think more than anything it’s more trying to disassociate myself from the importance of the moment,” Konta said. “I think it’s more keeping things in perspective and not panicking if I were to lose that service game or that point.”

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Playing the tennis of her life, Konta ready for the match of her life

Playing the tennis of her life, Konta ready for the match of her life

How many athletes—or people, for that matter—use the word “disassociate” in any situation, let alone to answer a spur-of-the-moment question? Konta, whose parents are Hungarian, is a citizen of the world, and she’s an engaging person. On a tennis court, though, it doesn’t help to have a lot going on in your head. Konta’s fight to disassociate her normal, thoughtful, off-court self from the laser-focused athlete she needs to be on court is one that many tennis fans and fellow players can understand. Like everyone else on the tour, Konta has been groomed for tennis success; but like Andrea Petkovic, she also has the gift of normalcy and relatability.

So far in 2017, Konta has reconciled her brain with her game. And she’s done it after splitting with the coach, Esteban Carril, who helped her into the Top 10 in the first place, and hiring Wim Fissette. Now Konta will face a new challenge in Serena. How will she match up? It’s hard to say, but Konta has won two of her three encounters with Serena’s sister, Venus. It’s safe to say that against Serena, Konta will need everything that’s been working for her to keep working.

If she does, the “oooooohhhhhhh”s she’ll hear from the Aussie will be ones of appreciation rather than apprehension.