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.