Wimbledon: Johanna Konta undergoes mini exam before every match, reveals coach

Johanna Kontas coach Wim Fissette has revealed how he makes the British No 1 learn tactics offbyheart and recite them before her matches at Wimbledon No player in the womens draw has won a higher percentage of first sets this year than Konta who in nine grand slam ties has lost the opening frame just once That was against Serena Williams at the Australian Open in January and even in her shock French Open loss to Suwei Hsieh Konta blitzed the first set 61Her fast starts are no fluke Konta is prepared meticulously for her opponents by Fissette and expected to commit every detail of her gameplan to memoryIt means in the minutes before she walks out on Court One today to face Caroline Garcia in the last 16 Konta will be reciting her strategy What we do at Wimbledon is I text her the game plan the night before and she reads it Its quite a long message Fissette saidThere are tactical messages but also some mental messages of what I feel is important that day Twenty minutes before the match she starts to warm up which is quite intense but five minutes before she goes out on court she repeats the messages back to me She recites her intentions for the match and if something is missing I tell her she has forgotten it especially if its something importantYou could say it is like a little exam and maybe a bit unusual but when she is 100 per cent clear about her intentions that is when Jo plays her best matches There are matches sometimes when I feel she is not completely clear and that is when it gets toughThe routine sounds intense but Fissettes peptalks are rarely designed to fire Konta up The Belgian has worked with Kim Clijsters Victoria Azarenka Sabine Lisicki and Simona Halep in the past but says Konta likes to keep things light We all tell jokes Everybody is different When I worked with Azarenka two hours before her match she is completely in her zone In that time we are definitely not talking anymore With Kim she was very relaxed before matches she would hug a baby nearby or play with a dog going pastJohanna is a bit like that She is usually very relaxed as well and we often joke and laugh It is good for her mindsetMeanwhile Garcia is enjoying the greatest grand slam success of her career as she prepares to face Konta mdash after enraging her Fed Cup teammates by quitting the France team Imminent Wimbledon glory may await the 23yearold Frenchwoman who as a teenager was famously tipped as a future world number one by Andy MurrayAnd if she beats Konta to earn a second successive quarterfinal in a major following her run to the same stage at the French Open then Garcias big career decision will look like spectacularly smart judgementGarcia has been denied the Centre Court appearance she craved for todays Wimbledon clash with Konta after it was scheduled as the opening match on Court OneItll be a really tough match A British player at Wimbledon thats never easy Itll maybe be on Centre Court Ive never played there Ive never been in the stands she saidIll try to go there on Sunday Its important to get a feeling of the atmosphere After thats its just a court with a net and lines Ill practise hard to be ready Ill have the public against me as youd expect so Ill have to be ready