It says more about the nature of the high-speed hamster wheel in which modern professional athletes exist than any intentional disconnect created between Andy Murray and Johanna Konta that they have shared few of their experiences, either here at the US Open or over the years.
There are expressions of mutual support, of course, between Britain’s only remaining contenders in the men’s and women’s singles draw but they realise they have to go their own way, work out their own problems and strategies. Murray has to deal with the power serving of Kevin Anderson in the fourth round, while Konta, who has lit up the tournament as the first British qualifier to get this far, prepares for her stiffest test, against the two-times Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Logic and history suggest Murray has the more straightforward assignment but nobody is writing off Konta. Such has been her level of consistency in back-to-back wins over the Wimbledon finalist Garbiñe Muguruza and then Andrea Petkovic that Kvitova is not considered fireproof to her solid, serve-based efficiency.
But Murray and Konta have exchanged messages – through the media, at least.
“I know Andy enough to say hello but I haven’t had any real conversations with him,” she said when first asked about him the other day. “However, I’m a firm believer that you can learn things from anyone, from the bus driver, so I just keep my ears open and try to be open to learning.”
Murray, who might know more about tennis than the average bus driver, welcomed her arrival as an inspiration across the board for British tennis.
After seeing off Thomaz Bellucci on Saturday night, he said: “I do actually care about British tennis, and on the women’s side. What Jo’s doing is really exciting. I think it’s important for girls to have top female players to look up to. A lot of kids that play the game might not like me, so it’s great if there are more players around so, if they don’t like me, great: love Jo Konta or love Laura Robson or Heather [Watson] or Kyle [Edmund].
“It’s important to have a lot of players around. I think that’s good for the general health of the game and it helps the LTA to do their job. The players’ job is to perform in the big events and then it’s their job to capitalise on that.
“Even with the sort of struggles [Konta has had] closing it out, she managed to get there. That’s a good sign. She’s obviously been on an excellent run lately and is very close [17 ranking points] to being the No1 in Britain. It shows how high she could get, which is exciting, beating two players like Petkovic and Muguruza. It suggests she has the potential to go very high if she continues on the right path. I think that’s very, very exciting.”
Konta’s strengths in those testing environments against such quality opponents in extreme heat have been her meticulous physical preparation and an uncomplicated game that relies heavily on concentration with ball in hand.
Her serving has been a revelation, especially her second serve, which has enough pop and precision on it to keep even the best players on edge. She has surrendered very few easy points on it, having learned through the diligent application of her Spanish coaches, Esteban Carril and José-Manuel García, to compartmentalise each point and fight hard for it, even in unpromising situations.
It is a skill Murray has learned over the years, a simple but effective strategy that can play mind games with opponents. As he put it recently, hunting down every single half chance leaves a thought in the minds of all your opponents that you are never beaten.
So, while they might not be aware of it, Murray and Konta have in fact been communicating and the content has been crucial to their parallel tales at Flushing Meadows.
