Konta looks to continue clay-court run at the French Open

Johanna Konta has never won a match at the French Open in four appearances, but she could be a player to watch with her recent run on clay.

The No. 26-ranked Konta reached the final of Rome, where she defeated Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and Kiki Bertens before falling to No. 2-ranked Karolina Pliskova. Two weeks prior, she reached the final in Rabat, Morocco.

“I’ve got a lot of things to be proud of and take away from it. I think every week I've really just been building on each match that I've been playing,” Konta said. “This is my second final in three weeks. That's still quite an achievement. I'm quite pleased with that. I'm looking forward to Paris. I'm looking forward to keep going.”

It was in 2017 that Konta won Miami and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon, getting to No. 4 on the WTA Tour. But she almost fell below the Top 50 at the beginning of this season, and says the turnaround has been gradual.

"There's a lot of things that go into finding good form or finding good rhythm and just being able to build on it," she told press at Rome. "I think most importantly I've really committed to the work that I'm doing with my team right now. I really believe in it. So every day I show up to work, I show up. I really enjoy the work that I'm doing. I'm there, and therefore I feel like every day I'm able to just keep adding and keep building."

"There's no days that I can remember since pre-season where I haven't grown in some way or haven't been able to add something in some way."

Konta also isn't bothered by her poor record on clay.

"I won a lot of my first junior titles, first professional titles on clay," she said. "I think the work that I'm doing right now, in general, I think translates onto all surfaces."

It is the same for the Rome champion, Pliskova, who also doesn't like clay but has found ways to win.

“I don't think the surfaces make as huge of a difference. I think her serve is equally as effective in a different way,” Konta said. “I think [Pliskova] was obviously using her kick serve more, which kicked quite high. Her shots are still flat, they're still big, quite deep. It was still just as difficult to really try and get her out of position. She reads the game very well. Movement-wise, I think that's her biggest strength.”

Konta enters Roland Garros ranked No. 26.