A top female player set for the Adelaide International has revealed she is battling a knee injury and could miss the tournament
One of the top female tennis players earmarked to play at the Adelaide International has revealed she may not be able to make the trip to Australia because of a chronic knee injury.
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One of the top female tennis players earmarked to play at the Adelaide International has revealed she may not be able to make the trip to Australia due to a chronic knee injury.
World No. 12 Johanna Konta is the fifth highest ranked player in a stacked women’s field for next month’s revamped Adelaide International – which has also attracted Novak Djokovic and world No. 1 Ash Barty.
But Great Britain’s No. 1 tennis player, who has a career best of fourth in the world and has reached semi finals at three of the four grand slams, has revealed she is a doubt to come and play in Adelaide.
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Konta, 28, was born in Sydney and is the sister-in-law of recently retired GWS Giants ruckman Shane Mumford, has told British newspapers that she could miss the Australian Open because of a consistent knee issue – either tendinitis or a closely related issue.
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“I am looking to be on that plane on the 30th [of December] going to Brisbane,” Konta said. “I have booked that flight. But I’m not giving myself any deadlines. I’m planning to play Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne, and I am hopeful that I am going to be ready. But I can only listen to my body.”
Konta said the knee injury began at the start of 2019 and would still impact her 2020 season.
“It’s definitely on the way up but it’s still going to take some managing, even into next season,” she said.
“The main thing has been to get it to a stage where I can function at the highest level and that’s the stage we are getting to now, where we are raising the amount of time on court and slowly feeling like a normal tennis player again.
“I’m up to two hours a day on court – which is nearly normal – plus all the gym stuff.”
As well as Barty, the women’s draw contains World No. 4 Simona Halep, two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and US legend Venus Williams.
The men’s draw also contains Australia’s No. 1 ranked player Alex de Minaur and rising Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime in addition to Djokovic – who has won 16 grand slam titles.