British No.1 Johanna Konta has confirmed that she will enter the 2019 season under the guidance of newly appointed mentor Dimitri Zavialoff.
Konta paired up with the French coach earlier this year on a trial basis at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. On Monday the 27-year-old has confirmed that she has made Zavialoff her full-time coach. Zavialoff is best known as being the person who guided three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka during the early stages of his career. Working with the Swiss player from the age of eight until 2010. He has also previously worked with Timea Bacsinszky.
Former world No.4 Konta recently ended her partnership with America’s Michael Joyce after what has been a lacklustre 2018 season for the Brit. Since reaching the final of the Nottingham International in June, Konta has suffered a series of disappointing results on the tour. Failing to win back-to-back matches at the following six tournaments on the tour.
It wasn’t until her final tournament of the year, the Kremlin Cup, where Konta managed to end her run of poor results. Scoring wins over Elise Mertens, Daria Gavrilova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach the semi-finals. She was knocked out of the tournament by eventual champion Daria Kasatkina.
“I’ve beaten some very good players and I’m really happy how I was able to compete during each match. It’s quite a good achievement at the end of the year,” she commented about her performance in Russia.
Zavialoff is the fourth coach hired by Konta within the past three years. In 2016 she split from Esteban Carril before ending her collaboration with Wim Fissette at the end of the 2017 season. Paving wave for her stint with Joyce that lasted less than a year.
Currently ranked 38th in the world, Konta will end the season outside of the top 20 for the first time since 2015. Overall, she has won 31 out of 54 matches played on the tour this year. Her best result was runner-up to Ashleigh Barty at the Nottingham Open.
