Johanna Konta has been nominated for a Fed Cup Heart Award following her gutsy performances during the Europe/Africa Zone Group I competition. The award celebrates players who have displayed outstanding determination and courage on court.
Konta’s nomination comes after she won all four of her singles matches at the University of Bath in February - Great Britain's first home tie in over a quarter of a century. Her nomination falls under the Europe/Africa I category, with Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva also in contention. Konta was also nominated for the same accolade last year after her solid run in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, in the same zonal tie event.
Vote for Johanna!
You can cast your vote for the Fed Cup Heart Award now via the Fed Cup website. Voting will remain open until Thursday 21 before the winner is announced on Monday 25 March.
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The British No.1 kickstarted her Fed Cup campaign in Bath with a straight sets victory of world No.86 Dalila Jakupovic. After closing out a tense opening set which involved saving three set points in a tie-break, Konta remained resilient to capture a 7-6(7), 6-2 win over the Slovenian.
She then went on to play Greece’s Maria Sakkari who was ranked just one spot higher at world No.38. Despite losing the first set, Konta stayed spirited and seized an impressive 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
For her final round-robin rubber, she faced an inspired Anna Bondar of Hungary. Konta started strong by taking the first set 6-2, but Bondar was a force to be reckoned with and levelled the match by winning the second set tie-break. She was forced to dig deep in the third before delighting the sell-out crowd with a 6-2, 6-7(1), 7-6(4) win.
After reaching Saturday’s play-off, the 2017 Wimbledon semi-finalist had fans on the edge of their seats as she survived her third three-set thriller of the week. Despite taking a medical timeout in the final set, she battled hard to triumph 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2.
Konta’s victories in Bath, combined with another four singles wins by Katie Boulter and two doubles wins by Harriet Dart and Katie Swan, meant the Brits concluded the week with an epic 10/0 win/loss record. The achievement edged them into the World Group II Play-Off for a third consecutive year - a remarkable fifth time in the previous eight years.
The Brits will be back in action when they face Kazakhstan at London’s Copper Box Arena, 20-21 April. Victory in April would mean they would return to the elite World Group level for the first time in 26 years.
Back the Brits!
Tickets to the Fed Cup World Group II Play-Off are now on sale. Make some noise and cheer on the team – all tickets can be purchased online and are available from as little as £6 for children and £12 for adults.
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