because I struggle with that side of
things anyway.”
Konta was watched yesterday by her
new coach, Thomas Hogstedt, an expe-
rienced Swede who has worked with
Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep.
He is Konta’s fifth mentor in four years
after her recent amicable split with
Dimitri Zavialoff, the Frenchman no
longer able to travel on tour because of
personal reasons.
“Thomas has been here since Friday,”
Konta said. “We are having a trial
period and it has been really great so far.
He is an incredibly experienced coach.
It’s very early days but I am enjoying
spending time with him.”
Battle of the Brits results, page 59Team competitions can often spring a
shock result or two and it took only 90
minutes of the St James’s Place Battle of
the Brits mixed event for Johanna
Konta to suffer a humbling defeat by an
unheralded compatriot who is 275
places below her in the world rankings.
Jodie Burrage, the 21-year-old from
the small Surrey village of Hindhead,
has impressed on the domestic circuit
this summer, winning 15 of 17 matches
at various events over the past 3½
weeks, and she reaped the rewards yes-
terday for her recent commitment to
match play. The world No 289
was by far the more comfort-
able player in a 6-4, 6-3 vic-
tory over Konta, a three-
times grand-slam semi-fi-
nalist.
Burrage’s performance
will no doubt have impressed
her Union Jacks team-mate
Andy Murray, who watched
by the side of the court on a
day on which he was not
called into action. While
Konta, 29, was under-
standably rusty in her
first match for close to
five months, the com-
each day and see-
ing Wimbledon is a
bit of a motivator for me.”
Focusing on strength and condition-
ing work during lockdown has helped
Burrage to improve on the court, as has
a trustworthy training partner in her
rugby-playing boyfriend, Ben White, a
scrum half for Leicester Tigers.
“I think it really benefited me
because we were both training and we
both had goals,” Burrage said. “It kept
me going in my fitness because it was a
long stint not to be doing anything.
It is better for us both being in
professional sport as we both have
goals and are working towards similar
things, fitness-wise. It really helped meSport
World No 289
from Surrey
crushes Konta
posure of Burrage in her first match
against a player ranked in the world’s
top 75 was notable.
“I was really excited to play her but
was also a bit nervous as she is such a
good player,” Burrage said. “I definitely
think there was an element in there of
me playing a lot of matches. I used that
to my advantage.
“She is ranked 14 in the world and it
was a really big match for me. It has
given me a lot of confidence about
where I can go and it has also shown the
amount of work I’ve put in over the last
year and during lockdown. I will
keep putting that work in
because it pays off.”
The talented Burrage —
mentored by David Fel-
gate, Tim Henman’s
former coach, and Colin
Beecher — has not quite
pushed on as much as
she would have liked
because of various
injury issues. She has un-
dergone three operations
on her ankles, two on her
right and one on her left,
the last of which ended her
chances of playing at Wim-
bledon for the first time
12 months ago. As she
now lives in an
apartment only a
few hundred metres from
the All England Club, securing
a first appearance there in the
future is a major goal.
“I can see No 1 Court and a
few of the practice courts
from my balcony,” Burrage said.
“I haven’t even played qualifying at
a grand slam yet but I did put my-
self in a good position last year
to get a main-draw wild card
at Wimbledon. Waking upStuart Fraser
Tennis
CorrespondentJodie Burrage (GB) 66
Johanna Konta (GB) 43
Burrage, 21, overcame nerves to defeat a rusty Konta
6-4, 6-3 and was congratulated by Judy Murray, lefteach da
iiing Wimb
bbibbt of a motiva
Focusing on strength andork in
—
l-er
eft,
d her
t Wim-
he first time
s ago As sheBu
6-4Konta is British No 1 and
ranked 14th in the world
ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGESDimitrov still
in poor health
a month after
positive test
Stuart Fraser
Grigor Dimitrov has reported that he is
still suffering from debilitating
symptoms of Covid-19 more than a
month after contracting the virus while
playing in Novak Djokovic’s ill-fated
Adria Tour event.
The former world No 3 from Bulgaria
— regarded as one of the fittest players
on the ATP Tour — was one of nine
people involved with the controversial
exhibition series in the Balkans to
contract the disease.
Dimitrov, 29, returned to action
during the weekend at the Universal
Tennis Showdown in Nice, France, and
lost both his matches. Afterwards,
Dimitrov cut a forlorn figure as he
explained the lasting physical effects
that resulted in him losing 3kg 6lb.
“The virus was hard on me so I stayed
at home for about a month,” Dimitrov
told Tennis Majors. “I was not
breathing well. I was tired. I had no
taste, no smell. It was not fun.”
Of his present training regime, he
added: “One day I feel really well and I
have about four hours to be out. But
then all of a sudden I need to complete-
ly shut down, take a nap or just rest.”
Dimitrov said he was not confident
that he will play in the US Open, which
begins on August 31. He performed well
in New York last year, defeating Roger
Federer en route to the semi-finals.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to
recover that quickly for me to put my
body through a really rigorous regime
again,” Dimitrov said. “It’s been about a
week or ten days since I’ve been back on
my feet. I’m just really not sure how my
body is going to respond.”
Dimitrov said that he also suffered
mental issues as a result of his illness. “I
was alone for 20 days. A lot of things are
going through your head. It doesn’t
matter how mentally strong you are, it’s
inevitable to have some bad thoughts.”
Other players may take Dimitrov’s
experience into consideration when
weighing up whether to travel to the US
Open next month.the times | Tuesday July 28 2020 1GM 53