Konta will reach top 10 this year – Rusedski
US Open |
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Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 29 August-11 September |
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Johanna Konta can break into the world top 10 by the end of this season, according to Greg Rusedski.
Great Britain’s Konta, 25, is seeded 13th for next week’s US Open and faces America’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
And former British number one Rusedski believes world number 14 Konta can become the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1984 to reach the WTA top 10.
“It’s something she will do by the end of the year,” he told Sportsweek.
Rusedski also believes that 2016 Australian Open semi-finalist Konta, who was ranked 146th in the world as recently as July 2015, has improved by working on her “mentality”.
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“She hired a sports psychologist who works with hedge funders,” said Rusedki.
“He has put her into a process and a set of goals where she wants to achieve things and the process of doing things rather than focusing on results all the time, for Jo that is the right thing to do.”
Speaking of Konta’s US Open prospects, Rusedski added: “I expect her to get to the round of 16.
“If she gets a good draw, don’t be surprised to see her back in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam again.”