Konta to miss WTA Finals again?

One year on, Johanna Konta is living the same tennis nightmare.

Set to debut in the WTA Finals field in October 2016, Johanna Konta flew to Singapore and took part in a photo shoot with her fellow competitors – only for Svetlana Kuznetsova to win the Kremlin Cup and sneak into the eight-player field ahead of her, just one day before the tournament began.

Fast forward to October 2017, and she seemed assured of a place in the field, well clear of floundering ninth-placed Kristina Mladenovic.

That was until another Frenchwoman, Caroline Garcia, went on an unprecedented tear through China, becoming the first player to win back-to-back titles in Wuhan and Beijing and leapfrogging Konta into the No.8 spot.

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With just two weeks to go until the WTA Finals kicks off in Singapore, Konta is again in ninth, and faces an uphill battle to qualify.

“Actually, in Tokyo I was speaking with Jo Konta. We were just – not joking about it – but she was pretty safe to be in,” Garcia revealed.

“After we said, do you remember last year, Kuznetsova had to win and it was a really last minute change and everything? And the only chance (this year) was for someone to win Wuhan and Beijing.

“I’m so sorry for her. No one would believe someone No.19 in the world would win Wuhan and Beijing in the row, right? We changed all the prognostications for the last spot. It’s tennis. We know everything can change fast.”

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Yet the Brit perhaps only has herself to blame.

Soaring after a semifinal finish at Wimbledon, she was one of the tour’s form players, having built a 34-10 win-loss record and peaking at world No.4. She seemed assured as a starter in Singapore.

But since then, she’s flopped, going 2-6 and suffering opening-round losses in Toronto, at the US Open, and in Tokyo, Wuhan and Beijing. She’s currently on a five-match losing streak.

She was due to play in Hong Kong, but withdrew with a foot injury; this time last year she pulled out that tournament with an abdominal tweak.

Konta’s inability to accrue much-needed points there helped Kuznetsova’s case in Moscow. It may prove to be similarly beneficial to Garcia this year, who currently holds a 185-point lead over the Brit in the Race to Singapore.

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Garcia could have increased that in Tianjin this week, but withdrew from the tournament on Monday citing injury.

Konta is expected to travel to Moscow next week, a tournament with 470 points on offer to the winner; should Konta reach the semifinals, she’d earn 185 points, and would pass Garcia in the race if she reached the final.

It is unclear whether Garcia will play in the Russian capital, but it would be reasonable to speculate she would request a wildcard, as she is not on the entry list.